Team Psych
by The Anti-Stratigist
Summary: After Naruto catches the attention of Ibiki, he and his teammates are thrust into the dangerous and confusing world of espionage. Where treachery lurks beneath the idyllic face of Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

Psych

Chapter 1 - Naruto

Ibiki was annoyed as he stalked through the streets of Konoha looking for something to get his mind off the seemingly impossible to break spy that had been brought in yesterday. He had actually had to call in Inoichi. It had been almost a year since that had been necessary. One thing was clear, the Konoha T&I was stagnating and needed new blood. Talented blood. Inoichi was incredible the best they'd seen in years, but he was retired and preferred to not be called on. He and Anko were pretty good too, but they didn't hold a candle to Inoichi; so he needed to find someone who did.

The question was who? Very few ninja had the stomach for T&I work, and there were even fewer ninja he would value enough to try breaking them of their queasiness. Ibiki huffed in frustration, this topic of thought was only further aggravating him. So he shoved aside the annoying thoughts and decided to think of something relaxing. Ibiki came to a stop; what did people do to relax? They counted birds or something... right? Bah that was weak and screamed civilian! He'd go to Higurashi's that place had a great selection of sake and the food wasn't half bad either. So Ibiki turned and made his way toward Higurashi's wondering if anyone that he knew would be there.

Ibiki was about two blocks from Higurashi's when he herd angry voices. The yelling sounded like it was coming out of the ally halfway down the block. Being curious, and not having anything better to do, Ibiki went to see what the yelling was for. As he got closer he started to make out some of the words, " Don't... get it...Dead!" Hearing that Ibiki quickly, though stealthily, made his way to the corner of the ally and peeked around it. There were two ninja, and one of them he didn't recognize, but the other guy was his buddy Shiranui Genma. Genma had his hands fisted in the other guys shirt and had him shoved up against the wall. The other guy looked like he was trying to be as unthreatening as possible. Ibiki was startled, what the heck had gotten into Genma? He was usually a pretty chill dude, but now here he is attacking a fellow ninja. Just then the other guy started speaking. "Of course I get it man! You just lost your fiancee, and that sucks hard," Ibiki thought 'Ah, that explains it; at least Genma didn't lose it enough to attack a civilian'. As Ibiki refocused on the argument in front of him the other guy was still speaking, "But you gotta pull yourself together! Your losing it dude."

"I don't care!" Genma screamed, "This is the last straw, I've lost too many. I just want it to end!" Genma's voice broke on the last word.

The other guy stared searchingly at Genma for a few seconds then started speaking in a quiet serious voice, "So what are gonna do? Go to the Hokage and ask for a suicide mission? Or even better are you gonna end it yourself? You gonna dishonor your friends by dying like that?"

Ibiki blinked in confusion, so did Genma, who articulately replied, "Huh?"

The other guy rolled his eyes, "Think idiot! What did your friends die for?"

"The village", Genma whispered.

"Did they want to die?" The other guy quietly asked.

Genma paused, "No".

"They're names were put on the KIA stone right?" Genma looked confused again, "Yeah?" "So if you go to the Hokage and ask for a suicide mission; who will you be dying for? If you die in battle where will your name be placed? And if you die now by your own choice when your friends didn't want to what will you be saying about their sacrifices? Do you really deserve to have your name on the KIA stone with those who have died for their village, when you took the mission so you could just die?"

Genma was crying now and in a broken voice replied, "Then I'll do It myself". The other guy looked sad as he responded, "Don't you think your friends would be so much happier if you moved on and lived instead of giving up and dying." The other guy got a small sad smile on his face, "Besides maybe your friends want to live vicariously through you. They can't really do that if your dead now can they?" The smile disappeared to be replaced by a very serious look, "Seriously Genma, I know it hurts, but don't give up. If you can't live for yourself right now live for your friends, dead _and_ alive, don't make them go through what your going through right now. Keep living, and eventually you'll be happy to be alive."

Genma released the steadily decreasing hold he had on the other guy and collapsed to his knees sobbing. "Your right", he whispered brokenly, "I'll live for them, at least until I can live for myself".

"Good", the other guy said firmly, "and if you need to talk, call, I'll listen." The other guy was on his knees now giving Genma a comforting hug.

Genma took several minutes to cry it all out, and then smiled, it wasn't a very good smile but it was a smile all the same, "Thanks Kiiroi (yellow), this talk helped a lot." Genma's sigh turned into a yawn, and the newly named Kiiroi smiled, "You look beat man, go home and take a nap, and remember... call if you need me."

Genma smiled, "I will", then Genma disappeared in a shushin.

Ibiki was impressed this Kiiroi person managed to talk down a suicidal ninja, and that was no easy feat. To bad his talent seemed to be in healing minds instead of breaking them T&I could have used him. Ibiki was about to continue on his way to Higurashi's when he noticed that Kiiroi was acting strangely, he was checking the area very carefully as if he was worried he'd be caught. Ibiki was about to go ask the guy what he was doing when Kiiroi put his hands in the ram seal and whispered kai, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared in the place of Kiiroi stood a blond haired child that had blue eyes and strange whisker like marks on his cheeks.

With a start Ibiki realized he knew who this kid was; it was the Kyuubi container. Ibiki was stunned this kid had a natural ability to read people and respond accordingly. Sure his talent was more toward healing minds than breaking them, but he was young and that could be worked with. There was also the fact that Genma had grabbed Kiiroi around the neck _without _his hand going through like it would on a normal henge. Ibiki got a feral grin on his face, that alone would have broken weaker prisoners, this kid was perfect for infiltration and information gathering. In Ibiki's excitement only one thought went through his head as he watched the Kyuubi container walk away, 'fresh blood'.


	2. Chapter 2

Blanket Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto, and unless something really weird happens I will not own Naruto by the end of this story. So, on behalf of this entire story I do not own Naruto.

A/N Hey all! I just wanted to thank all the people who reviewed my story, it filled me with much joy. If you have any comments or suggestions for my story I'd love to hear it. This is my first story so please tell me what needs to be worked on so I can improve as I write later chapters. Now on with Team Psych.

Chapter 2 - Shikamaru

Ibiki was pleased. After researching the Kyuubi container he had found out a great deal. His name was Uzumaki Naruto and the best news was he was in his last year at the academy. Ibiki was already plotting on how he could get Hokage-sama to agree to Naruto being his apprentice in the art of torture and interrogation. One concerning fact was that the poor kid had already failed the graduation exam three times so it was possible he was a dunce in most ninja areas. If he was it would mean more work for Ibiki to get him into his unit, but the kid was good at reading people, and Ibiki needed new underlings, talented new underlings. Ibiki needed Naruto, and he would get him; no matter how challenging. However, on the hope that he could make things easier for himself by helping Naruto pass the graduation exam, he was on his way to talk to the kid's sensei to find out about his overall ability and what the graduation exam was like now.

Ibiki was pulled out of his thoughts by the bright, perky voice of the school secretary, "Can I help you Jonin-san?"

Ibiki wanted to cringe how did such a perky person ever become a ninja? However he let none of what he was thinking show on his face as he shortly replied, "I'm looking for Umino Iruka."

The secretary's smile dimmed a bit at his abrupt manner, but it was soon back to full cringe worthy perkiness as she answered, "Alright, it's a little late in the day for teachers to still be here but if Iruka-san is here he'll be in his classroom." The secretary paused as if expecting Ibiki to know where Iruka's classroom was. When all Ibiki did was raise an eyebrow she hesitantly continued, "Room 325." When Ibiki still didn't leave she started to explain as you would to a slow child, "You go down this hall to the stairs , then you climb up three sets of stairs, after that you look for a door on the left side of the hall with the number 325 above it. Thats where Iruka-san _might_ be." Ibiki really hoped this dimwitted secretary someday did something to tick Hokage-sama off he would enjoy toying with her. As it was she was a fellow ninja, and therefore safe from him. So, he just turned and headed for Umino-san's classroom. If Umino was as dim as the secretary he would have words with the schooling comity.

When Ibiki made it to room 325 he was happy to hear voices coming from within. When he got to the door he saw two people; one was a sensei with brown hair in a spiky ponytail and a scar over his nose, this was probably Iruka, the other was a child with black hair who strangely enough also had his hair in a spiky ponytail, and was slouched as if he was bored with the world. Iruka seemed to be on a rant. "Why don't you take this seriously Shikamaru? You've slept through almost every lecture this week your grades could hardly get worse, especially with you just barely passing every test! Then today you decide to skip the first half of class even after I made it very clear that today was going to be heavily covered in this units test! Where were you that could have possibly been so important to risk failing a test you can hardly afford to fail?"

Shikamaru still looked as bored as he had when the lecture started, but Ibiki noticed that his eyes were sharp and calculative. What he said though surprised both Iruka and Ibiki, "I was following Naruto."

Iruka stared, "What?"

Shikamaru sighed and muttered something that sounded strangely like mendoi (troublesome) then repeated, "I was following Naruto. I noticed he wasn't in class today, so I figured he was doin' a prank and maybe he'd want some help." Iruka frowned disapprovingly and opened his mouth to, no doubt, start another lecture when Shikamaru spoke first, "He didn't do a prank though, he got waylaid by a drunk villager shouting things at him, then an ANBU showed up and arrested the guy, and took Naruto to see the Hokage."

Shikamaru paused and his face took on a considering look. "Have you ever noticed just how much the village as a whole seems to hate Naruto? They're always calling him a no good troublemaker, heck I've even heard him called a bakemono (monster), and the Fourths mistake." Shikamaru tilted his head to the side, "What does Naruto have to do with the Fourth anyway? I mean the Fourth died the night Naruto was born didn't he? And then there's the way Naruto seems so close to Hokage-sama. What business does a no name orphan have being friends with the Hokage and guarded by ANBU?"

Ibiki was tense this kid was too smart for his own good and if Iruka didn't get a handle on things he might have to intervene; he hated intervening. He watched as Iruka frantically tried to redirect Shikamaru's train of thought, "Shikamaru we're not here to discuss anything about Naruto we're here to discuss you're lack of focus on school."

Shikamaru completely ignored Iruka's attempt to change the subject, "Speaking of Naruto's birthday did you ever realize Naruto was born on the day Kyuubi was killed?"

Ibiki wanted to tense, but years of hiding his emotions prevented it. Iruka, however did tense and Shikamaru noticed it, as his eyes got sharper you could almost see him coming in for the kill. Ibiki wanted to clench his fist, this kid was definitely too smart, and it was clear Iruka couldn't handle it. He'd have to step in. He moved to step forward, but was too slow to stop Shikamaru from asking one final question. "And what about the law that keeps all this secret from us uninformed kids?"

Iruka gasped, "Who told you about that!" Shikamaru had a victorious look on his face, and Ibiki didn't know whether to whistle in respect of the kids ability to bluff, or bang his head on the wall for Iruka falling for it. One thing was for sure though, he had to stop this, now, and make sure the kid got the right truth instead of the wrong one. So Ibiki gained the attention of the occupants of the room by clearing his throat and saying, "Umino-san, at least I assume you Umino Iruka,"

Iruka blinked at the sudden topic change as well as the abrupt appearance of this new person whom he recognized as Ibiki the head of the T&I department. However in an effort to save face he quickly replied, "Yes, I am Umino Iruka."

Ibiki nodded, "Good then back to the previous conversation, you just told the kid about the law." Iruka looked like he wanted to argue, but Ibiki steamrolled right over him, "He was bluffing you, he came to you with what little information he had and was trying to get more. He succeeded too." Iruka was probably imagining things, but he could swear that Ibiki almost sounded impressed. Iruka was quickly distracted from that thought when Ibiki continued talking, "Now thanks to you, the kid knows for sure there's a secret and will have to be told the rest." Iruka flinched and looked down in embarrassment. How the heck had he managed to let a kid who wasn't even a ninja yet fool him? As Ibiki finished what he was saying Iruka wished the ground would open up and swallow him, "Now Umino your going to come with us to see Hokage-sama so he can hear why the kid here has to be told this story by the man responsible and after we straighten out this mess you and I are gonna come right back here so I can talk to you about another student of yours." Iruka gulped, it wasn't that Ibiki had said any of that in a particularly threatening way; it's just, this was Ibiki, if Ibiki actually came here to talk to him about a student it couldn't be good; for him or the student.

After saying as much as he would in front of a perceptive brat Ibiki grabbed both Iruka and Shikamaru, and shushined to the Hokage tower. When they got to the tower, the group proceeded through every check point on the way to the Hokage's office, thanks to Ibiki being there, in fact, the only place they were stopped was at the doors to the Hokage's private office where two ANBU suddenly became visible. Ibiki calmly told the two ANBU that there had been a code fox-17, and that he needed to see the Hokage at his earliest convenience. The two ANBU had stiffened when they herd code fox-17 and looked at the two people with Ibiki. Then one of the ANBU nodded and told Ibiki that he would inform the Hokage. Less than ten minutes later the three were shown into the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a powerful man. In his younger days he was known as the Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi), and even now he was known as The Professor. He had always been strong or smart enough to achieve his goals. Until now. He was old and his physical power was waning, and while he still had his cleverness people were less willing to listen to a man that many were trying pass off as senile. But even as he was steadily losing power, both physically and politically, he had never truly felt weak and powerless until the responsibility of taking care of Naruto fell into his lap. The exhaustion he always felt when situation regarding Naruto came up was back and in some ways stronger than ever.

An ANBU had just informed him that a fox-17 had arisen. A code fox-17 meant that one of Naruto's peer's had discovered his secret, this was the first of Naruto's peers to figure it out, and what was worse was that Naruto himself didn't know the secret yet. Sarutobi let out a sigh as he acknowledged to himself that after this code was resolved he would need to inform Naruto of the Kyuubi, there could be no more delays. The ANBU cleared his throat and once again asked what Sarutobi would like to do about the code. Sarutobi sighed and told the ANBU to show them in.

Sarutobi watched as his three visitors were shown in. The first was Ibiki. On the outside Ibiki looked as unflappable and intimidating as always, but Sarutobi knew he was annoyed, although strangely, he also seemed to be intrigued. Sarutobi hid a smile as he pitied the poor soul who had gotten Ibiki's interest. The next to come through the door was Iruka. Poor Iruka looked stunned, abashed, and a little afraid. The last to come in was Nara Shikamaru. He walked as if the whole world was boring him, but there was a sharpness in his eyes that belied his lazy posture. Sarutobi resisted the urge to shake his head. Of course Shikamaru would be the one to figure it out, he was a Nara after all.

The Professor watched as the three formed a row in front of him than he sat up straighter and got down to business, "Ibiki, report!"

Ibiki frowned at being singled out for this report, but still to obey his leader he stepped forward and replied, "I was on my way to speak to Umino Iruka about current Academy curriculum. Upon arriving at Umino-san's classroom I overheard a conversation between Umino-san and Nara-chan," At his new nick name, Shikamaru gave Ibiki a glare that would have melted ice. Ignoring the kid Ibiki continued on, "During the course of the conversation Nara-chan brought up observations he had about Uzumaki Naruto and his ties to the Kyuubi. While stating these facts Nara-chan was able to bluff Umino-san into confessing the existence of the law that has to do with Naruto."

After finishing his formal report Ibiki relaxed a bit and continued in a more casual voice. "Seeing how remarkably far Nara-chan came on his own, and also the fact that he now knows there is a secret I thought it would be better to tell him the whole truth now instead of him bumbling around and discovering a potentially harmful half truth later." Having finished speaking Ibiki stepped back into the row.

Sarutobi was surprised Ibiki was rarely impressed by anything so Shikamaru must be quite the talented bluffer. But why on earth would Ibiki want to meet with Iruka about current school curriculum? The Professor nodded in acknowledgment of Ibiki's report then turned his attention to the others in the room, "Iruka, Shikamaru-kun, do either of you have anything to add to Ibiki's report?"

Iruka looked down in embarrassment, "Hokage-sama, please forgive me, I shouldn't have allowed myself to get tricked into giving up such important information."

Sarutobi gave Iruka a stern glare, "You are correct Iruka, and you will need to go through training to resist torture and mind games. Ibiki will be your teacher."

At this Ibiki scowled, "With all do respect Hokage-sama, couldn't you find someone else to teach the idiot. I've already got a lot on my plate."

Sarutobi's eyes took on a dangerously mischievous look, "I'm sorry Ibiki, but this incidence has made me aware of just how good our students are at gathering information. Therefore it will be required from now on that all academy teachers be taught how to resist torture and mind games," At Ibiki's horrified look the Professor continued, "Do not worry Ibiki you will only be required to teach Iruka. Iruka, however, will teach the rest of the teachers what he learns from you, so teach him well. Besides you should be happy Ibiki it looks like you'll have new talented faces in your department in a few years time." Poor Iruka looked like he was about to faint from fright, but just gulped and with his head bowed promised himself he would not fail, no matter what Ibiki did to him. Meanwhile Ibiki was thinking about what Hokage-sama had said about new faces in T&I in a few _years_ time. Ibiki inwardly smirked, if he had his way he'd see new faces in there in a few _months _time.

Sarutobi brought all attention back to himself by clearing his throat, "Now, Shikamaru you've obviously figured out some of what is going on with Naruto. So, why don't you tell me what you know and I'll correct your misconceptions as well as filling in the blanks."

Shikamaru shifted to a more alert stance, "From what I've observed Naruto is tied to the Kyuubi in some way, and there's a law to keep people from finding out, but from watching the way the older generations treat Naruto I'm guessing the law is only to keep the secret from my generation and down. I also have come to the conclusion that based on his closeness to you, and his physical similarities to the Fourth; Naruto is in some way related to either you, or the Fourth. That's it."

The Third was amazed and worried Shikamaru had done very well, but he couldn't be allowed to know how close he had come to figuring out Naruto's heritage. "You are correct in some of you assumptions, first Naruto is connected to the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi is a construct of chakra that has gained the ability to think, because of its unique construction it, along with all the Bijuu, is impossible to kill, the best we can do is seal it away. However no inanimate object would be able to hold the power of the Kyuubi, something that already has a chakra network must be used." Sarutobi knew this was a lie, but the less people who knew about that particular secret the better.

Understanding dawned on Shikamaru's face, but then he frowned in thought, "Why Naruto? Why not put it into an adult who would put the power to good use, and be able to handle the stigma, or even a deer, or some other animal?"

Sarutobi frowned, "Unfortunately, due to the toxic nature of Kyuubi's chakra only a newborn child would be able to adapt to it rather that immediately dying. Also, when a child is used to seal a Bijuu they are called a jinchuuriki. As for sealing any bijuu into an animal, it wouldn't work. Too many of an animal's actions depend on instinct, so a bijuu would be able to over whelm the animals mind, and take control of its body. " Sarutobi's face took on a deadly look, " Also Shikamaru, I must warn you, this secret is S ranked, and no one else in your age group knows this secret. Not even Naruto. If you tell anyone you will be put to death; as is the case with all S ranked secrets."

Shikamaru gulped, "That makes sense." Shikamaru had a hesitant look on his face as he continued, "But what about Naruto's family, is he really an orphan?"

Sarutobi gave a sad smile, "Unfortunately Naruto truly is an orphan. I keep a close eye on him because he is the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and I want to do what I can to help him and keep him safe." The Third got a sad look on his face, "The Fourth wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero for holding the Kyuubi back, but the villagers only see him as the Kyuubi reincarnate. Their hatred has insured a very lonely existence for the boy. The least I can do is allow him to have some small friendship with me." Sarutobi straightened and put an unreadable face on, "As for being related to the Fourth. Well, the Fourth was an orphan with no known relatives, and he never told me of any children of his own. There is no possibility of Naruto being related to the Fourth, I wish there was."

Sarutobi shifted his focus from Shikamaru to the other occupants of the room, "Now that this matter is resolved I need to get back to work. You're all dismissed." The three men saluted to their Hokage and filed out of his office.

While Ibiki was leaving; he was pondering on the possibility of there being other talented people readers in Iruka's class. There were already two, what would be the odds of there being one more? Ibiki smirked that would be something he'd have to look into.

In the mean time Ibiki had a teacher to torture, so he reached out and grabbed the back of Iruka's flak jacket, "Where do you think you're going idiot? I told you I had something to discus with you, besides I've got to train you to not be so gullible. No time like the present to start." With that Ibiki and Iruka disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Omake

Iruka's head was spinning as Ibiki dragged him into the T&I department for his first lesson. How did this happen, Iruka was going to kill Shikamaru for getting him into this mess. Iruka watched as Ibiki signaled two T&I chunin to come forward. The two chunin looked at Iruka then switched their gaze to Ibiki as one of them asked, "What's going on Taicho(captain)? Why is there a non T&I Konoha nin down here?"

Ibiki frowned, "Hokage-sama has given me the assignment of making sure this idiot is capable of resisting torture and mind games." Iruka thought he saw the two T&I chunin give him looks of pity, but he hoped he was imagining things. Iruka brought his attention back to the conversation as Ibiki continued, "Listen up you two I want you to prepare interrogation room 1 for use and while your at it tie this idiot up in there and make sure there's plenty of olive oil and salt in that room, I'll need it later."

Iruka was starting to freak out a little why would Ibiki need olive oil and salt? Was it for him? Surely Ibiki wasn't allowed to permanently scar him, was he? Iruka started trying to find a way to escape as the two T&I chunin grabbed him and started pulling him to interrogation room 1. As they were walking to the room one of the chunin quietly said, "I'm really sorry you have to go through this, but hey, look on the bright side, you'll be stronger by the time Ibiki's done with you." Iruka gulped what had Hokage-sama gotten him into?

It had been 30 minutes since Iruka was brought here. The two T&I chunin had tied him securely to the chair and left the olive oil and salt on a tray in plain view. Every time Iruka looked at the two items visions of all the different types of torture that he could think of that included olive oil and salt danced through his head and he wished Ibiki would come back and just get it over with, 'cause he didn't know how much longer he could stand this.

An hour had passed since Ibiki had had Iruka tied to this chair and Iruka couldn't take it anymore. He was about ready to start screaming when Ibiki came in with the cruelest and most bloodthirsty smile Iruka had ever seen. Suddenly Iruka wished he could be alone again. Ibiki pulled the tray that had the olive oil and salt on it closer to Iruka's chair, and then sat down in a chair right in front of Iruka. Ibiki's scary smile still in place as he spoke, "I don't want to be doing this Iruka. It's a waste of my time, and I hate wasting my time. I wouldn't have to be here if you weren't an idiot. So I think a good repayment for all this is to use you to work off some of my annoyance, you need to learn how to resist torture eventually, it might as well be now." Iruka watched in terror as Ibiki reached for the olive oil.

"Wait!" Iruka screamed, "Wait please I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just don't hurt me!" Ibiki paused then pulled his hand away from the olive oil, "Fine, but if I think you're lying you'll wish you had gone along with my original plans. Now tell me everything you know about your students and all there is to know about the final academy exam."

Iruka nodded his head vigorously and then spent the next two hours telling Ibiki everything he could think of about his students and the exam. After he was finished Ibiki nodded and then once again reached for the olive oil. Iruka started stuttering, "W- wh-wait, you p-pp-promised you wouldn't h-h-hurt me if I-I t-told you w-what I kn-knew."

Ibiki looked at Iruka like he'd grown a second head, "I'm not gonna hurt you, but thanks to this stupid assignment I had to miss lunch. So I'm eating it here." Then Ibiki grabbed the olive oil with one hand and a plate with the other. Then proceeded to pour some olive oil onto the plate, then some salt, after he'd done that he took out a loaf of bread and tore off piece to dunk into the olive oil/salt mixture. After Ibiki took his first bite he looked up at Iruka and smirked, "You see this is your torture Iruka. You have to sit there and watch me eat, all while knowing you failed your first day at mind game resistance training." Ibiki held his bread up and smiled, "Bon appetite."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Once again thanks to all those who reviewed. :)

Chapter 3 - The Final Member

There was only a week left until the academy graduation exams, and Ibiki knew that if he wanted to train Naruto and Shikamaru, he needed to make his move now. With that in mind, Ibiki was in the Hokage Tower on his way to convince his village leader that putting two innocent pre-teens into his capable, yet sadistic, hands was a good idea.

Ibiki made it into his leaders office with little difficulty. There was a smile on Hokage-sama's face as he greeted Ibiki, "Ah Ibiki, welcome. I far as I know you are not looking into anything that would require my immediate attention. So, what is your motivation for visiting me today?"

Ibiki straightened and looked the Hokage strait in the eye as he said, "Pending completion of there graduation exam, I would like to take Uzumaki Naruto and Nara Shikamaru as my students."

Sarutobi stiffened, narrowed his eyes in anger, and with all the commanding power of the Hokage position behind him said, "No. I will not force two children to lose their innocence in such a way. Their innocence will be lost soon enough, but it will not be through the gruesomeness of torture and interrogation training."

Ibiki bowed his head in acknowledgment of his Kage's words, but still resolutely continued, "With all due respect Hokage-sama, Naruto lost his innocence a long time ago. It's hard to be innocent when your reminded daily how hated you are." At Ibiki's words Sarutobi lurched back as if he had been slapped, and Ibiki could see sorrow in his eyes, and then anger.

Ibiki knew his last remark had put him on thin ice, but he was determined to get his way, and so, stiffening his will, he continued, "Also Hokage-sama, I do not intend to take them anywhere near the interrogation rooms for several months at least. Both Naruto and Shikamaru have bad habits that need to be dealt with. They also need to be taught more about the human mind before they will even be able to understand what's going on in an interrogation. While I know they will still be young, they will at least be losing their innocence at the same time as others Genin begin to lose theirs. "

Ibiki paused as he contemplated the best way to bring the Hokage around to his view, and in the end decided brutally honest was the way to go, "I am not asking to train these two now because I enjoy the thought of removing their innocence. The fact is, T&I is in desperate need of skilled interrogators. Out of all the interrogators only Anko and myself have the skill required to break harder prisoners. Anko and I get swamped on a daily basis, and it's becoming more common for me to call in the services of Inoichi because I just don't have the time to break the prisoners. Naruto and Shikamaru are naturals at reading people and getting information. If I can teach them how to use their natural talents, I believe, they could surpass Inoichi in skill. I don't want to bring them in this early Hokage-sama, but I need them; and the sooner I get them the sooner they can lighten the load at T&I. I know you want to protect their innocence, but is the innocence of two children worth the chance of being too late to use vital information because we didn't have a chance to get to a knowledgeable prisoner sooner?"

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful look on his face. After several minutes of thought he frowned and brought his attention back to Ibiki, "Your thoughts have merit, so I will give you a chance." Ibiki relaxed slightly and a small satisfied smirk came to his face, at least until the Hokage continued, "However, because I still do not believe this is a good idea; I am adding certain conditions. First, you must convince Iruka that this is a good idea. Also since you will be replacing a Jonin-sensei, you must convince one of the sensei to give up their teaching position. That sensei cannot under any circumstances be Kakashi. Finally, Iruka anticipates nine graduating Genin this year. So, in order to keep the teams even you must chose one of the graduating Konoichi to be on your team."

Ibiki frowned at the last condition, "Konoichi aren't usually cut out for T&I work Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi smiled, "That will remain a condition. Consider it a challenge to prove just how much you want this team."

While being less than pleased about the final condition Ibiki was still grateful to the Hokage for the chance, and was determined to succeed. So, with a final bow, Ibiki prepared to leave with a "By your leave sir?". At the Hokage's nod Ibiki exited the room, and decided to go convince Iruka first. After all, he would probably be the most difficult to convince. Besides, he had the class list, and Ibiki needed to find a Konoichi. At that thought Ibiki paused and glanced at a nearby clock which read 12:03 p.m.. 'Perfect', Ibiki thought, 'Iruka's little students probably just got out for lunch, if I go now I should be able to observe the future Konoichi. Hopefully there will be a girl as talented as Naruto and Shikamaru are.' So with a swirl of leaves Ibiki disappeared from the Hokage tower and appeared at the edge of the Academy playground, already searching among Iruka's students for any talented Konoichi.

Ibiki was disappointed. He had been studying the potential Konoichi in Iruka's class for almost a half hour. Out of all of them it looked like only three of them had the skills necessary to pass the exam. Out of those three one was so painfully shy it was a puzzle as to why she wanted to be a Konoichi in the first place. Another of the three was Inoichi's daughter, and therefore off limits. No doubt Inoichi would want to teach his daughter about information gathering himself. The last of the three was a pathetic pink haired girl. By her looks, this was probably Haruno Sakura. She was a rabid Sasuke fanatic, and didn't look like she had the body of a Konoichi. Just like Iruka had described her. The only good thing he could think of about her was that if she had no skill he could make her into whatever he wanted her to be.

A commotion near where he was hiding pulled him out of his thoughts. He saw Naruto and Sakura in a loud discussion. "Come on Sakura!" Naruto said in a loud whiny voice, "all I'm asking for is one date!" Ibiki frowned, Naruto had a lot of potential at reading people, he couldn't be dense enough to see Sakura as anything worth chasing. Unless there was more to Sakura than he had seen in the last half hour.

Sakura gave a frustrated yell and hit Naruto on the head, hard, "Naruto! How many times have I told to stop bothering me! If you keep following me around I'll have no chance at Sauske-kun!" Sakura hit Naruto again, " If you ask me one more time I'm gonna hog tie you, smear you with honey, and leave you on top of an ant hill!"

Naruto gulped, pouted and then said in a weedily voice, "Ah Sakura why'd you need to be so mean to me?" Sakura didn't answer just gave "Humph!" and walked away from a pouting Naruto. Ibiki, after watching the entire fight, had a feral grin on his face. Iruka hadn't mentioned Sakura's temper. Sakura was pathetic, and would need a lot of work. However she seemed to have some potential for torture. During her Anthill threat he had seen the slightest hint of Anko. If Sakura could end up anything like Anko she'd be one heck of an interrogator. With a smirk Ibiki went to tell Iruka he was coming by for a discussion after class. After all he had his team hand picked. Now it was time to make sure he got it.

Iruka was having a good day. He had survived Ibiki's lessons with only minor mental scarring, and now after learning all Ibiki had to teach him, with any luck he wouldn't have to see Ibiki for a very long time. "Iruka!" Iruka gave a yelp and spun around to see Ibiki was behind him, and at that moment decided Luck was a sadist. "I..Ibiki w..wh..what can I do for you?" Iruka inwardly winced, he just stuttered in front of Ibiki. You never stuttered in front of Ibiki! It was like asking Ibiki to mess with your head and hurt you.

Iruka was surprised when Ibiki ignored the open invitation he had given for pain and instead stated, "Iruka I have something I need to talk to you about. When can I come by?"

Iruka was wary, this had to be a trap of some kind. However, after taking a minute to try and find the trap and not succeeding, he reluctantly replied, "I'm- free today after classes. So, around 15:30 I could meet with you."

Ibiki nodded, "Good. I'll see you at 15:30 then." With that Ibiki disappeared in a shushin while Iruka watched.

For the rest of the school day Iruka was jumpy. So jumpy, in fact, that even his students expressed concern. Iruka kept wishing time would freeze so he wouldn't have to face Ibiki, but it seemed Time was a sadist too. Because instead of time going slower it seemed to go faster than ever, and before he realized it, it was 15:30 and Iruka could see Ibiki darkening his door. As soon as Iruka saw Ibiki he jumped to his feet, "Ibiki! Ahh... come in and have a seat." Ibiki looked around the room at the multiple desks with chairs connected and then turned his gaze to Iruka's chair, which happened to be the only chair that wasn't connected to a desk. Ibiki turned his eyes back to Iruka and raised a single eyebrow.

Iruka realizing his mistake blushed and in a sheepish voice said, "We can go to the teachers' lounge there are plenty of chairs in there, and there's also more privacy."

Ibiki nodded, "Lead the way, and be sure to bring your current team placement sheet."

Iruka paused in confusion, "Why would you need the team placement sheet?"

Ibiki frowned, "I'll explain that when we're both comfortable, and have a bit more privacy."

Although still confused Iruka nodded and led Ibiki to the teachers' lounge. Once there they took seats across from each other and Ibiki gestured toward the team placement sheet, and with a nonverbal motion asked for it. Iruka was beginning to feel more and more edgy, but still handed the team placement sheet to Ibiki. After about five minutes in which Ibiki studied the paper, and Iruka tried not to fidget; Ibiki placed the paper down and said, "You've done a good job with team placement. However, I would like to ask your opinion on an idea for a fresh Genin team that came to me." Iruka nodded and motioned for Ibiki to continue, "I would like to suggest that Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Haruno Sakura be placed on a specialized team together. Their team would specialize in information gathering, and their Jonin-sensei would be me."

Iruka jumped up with a incredulous look on his face, "Are you nuts! You want to take twelve year olds and teach them how to use torture!"

Ibiki frowned and narrowed his eyes, "I said their team would specialize in _information gathering_. While torture is a tool used for gathering information, it is hardly the only one. I would teach this team _all_ the tools, and I will postpone teaching them how to use torture for as long as possible."

During Ibiki's speech Iruka had slowly sunk back into his chair. Now once again fully seated, he still had an extremely distrusting look on his face, "You're Ibiki the sadist, you specialize in torture. Why on earth would I hand innocent kids over to you?"

"While it's true I specialize in torture," Ibiki said, " It is by no means my only skill. As for why you should hand these three over to me, it's because I can help them." Iruka snorted, but Ibiki ignored him and continued, "Due to his tenant, Naruto is strongly disliked, and while I don't think his sensei would intentionally hold back Naruto; he might hold Naruto back without realizing he's doing it. You may not know this Iruka, but when Naruto was growing up he had an ANBU guarding him at all times. While some of the ANBU who watched him still aren't too fond of him. Most of the ANBU who watched him grew vary attached to him. Several of those same ANBU who already like Naruto owe me favors. I wouldn't mind calling in some of those favors to ensure Naruto gets properly trained."

Iruka looked thoughtful, "Alright, it might be an advantage for Naruto, but what about the other two?"

Ibiki leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, "Sakura is aggressive and has anger management problems that tend to bleed over into violence." Iruka opened his mouth to argue but froze, when Ibiki raised his hand in a stopping motion, "You may not want to acknowledge it Iruka but it's true. While observing your class I noticed several times when Sakura hit someone for slight infractions." Ibiki gave a small amused smile, when Iruka saw the smile he shuddered, "I even saw Sakura come up with a very creative torture technique for Naruto when he asked her on a date. If Sakura's violent tendencies aren't stopped or redirected, then she could end up facing charges of treason for attacking a comrade out of a sparing match. I can give Sakura a useful outlet for her violence, so she won't end up in that situation."

Iruka's face was pale and he looked very distressed. In a quiet voice he asked, "And, what about Shikamaru?"

Ibiki leaned back, "Right now you have Asuma as Shikamaru's sensei, and while Asuma is one of our best Jonin; he is also very lazy. From what I've observed Shikamaru is brilliant, but also a sloth. If you put Shikamaru with Asuma I guarantee Shikamaru will never reach his full potential. With me he will not only become an excellent strategist, I will teach him how to read his opponent, so that he will be very accurate in reading an enemy's strategy. He will also learn the value of working hard when on duty. While I realize my argument for helping Shikamaru isn't very convincing, keep in mind this team comes as a package deal I can't help Naruto or Sakura if I can't help Shikamaru too."

Iruka had a bit of a dazed look on his face, but as the minutes passed the dazed look faded to be replaced with one of understanding, "I agree with you, and I'll support you in getting this team. I just hope these three can forgive me for putting them with you."

Ibiki nodded, "Your support is welcome, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go convince Asuma that he doesn't really want to be a sensei." Iruka waved to Ibiki as he walked out the door.

Asuma was having a terrible day. This morning he got stood up for the breakfast date he'd finally convinced Kurinai to have with him. Than he got into an argument with his old man the Hokage over whether or not he'd be taking on a genin team. Of course his dad won; you don't just say no to your commander in chief, but that didn't stop Asuma from trying. What did he want with a genin team? They'd probably all be hyperactive go getters who wouldn't give him any chances to relax. Yes, Asuma was at his limit, he prayed no other bad news would come his way today, or he would blow a gasket.

Asuma looked up from his sulking to scan the street for a good place to eat. As he looked, he saw Ibiki trying to get his attention, and moved toward him.

When Asuma got to Ibiki he nodded in greeting, "Ibiki, how are you today?".

Ibiki nodded in return, " I'm doing well Asuma, but I have something of relative importance to discuss with you. Since it's about noon how about treat you to lunch, and we can discuss it while we're eating."

Asuma frowned and a wary look crossed his face, "Is this bad news? Because with the day I've had so far today, if it is, I don't want to hear it."

"With this news it depends on your point of view." Ibiki stated, "It could either be really good, or really bad news. To find out which your just going to have to take a chance. I'd rather discuss this matter when we're both comfortable, since I don't know how long it's going to take."

Asuma slouched in relative defeat, "A chance of good news huh? I suppose I'll take what I can get. At least I get a free meal out of it. Lead on Ibiki."

Ibiki gave a firm nod, "Good. Lets head to the Akamichi's barbecue place; there's good food there and a fair amount of privacy."

Asuma gave a small smile and nod at hearing where they were going to eat. Then he followed Ibiki to fill his stomach, and start what would hopefully be a better second half to this awful day.

Asuma smiled at the mouthwatering smell of the freshly cooked barbecue, and closed his eyes at the savory melt in your mouth taste of the meat. He was brought out of his culinary heaven by the sound of Ibiki clearing his throat. When Asuma turned his attention back to Ibiki he saw that Ibiki had one eyebrow raised, and an entertained look on his face. Well a look that was as close to entertained as Ibiki got. Asuma sent an embarrassed grin Ibiki's way, "So, what did you want to talk to me about Ibiki?"

Ibiki's amused look dropped, "I heard you were made a jonin sensei. What do you think of that?"

Asuma glowered, "I hate it! This little assignment is being forced on me by dad, it's almost enough to send me back to the twelve ninja guardians."

Although he didn't show it Ibiki was surprised. To date, the worst experience in Asuma's life, at least as far as Ibiki knew, took place in the ninja guardians. that Asuma was tempted to go back to that nightmare to escape being a jonin-sensei was encouraging. So Ibiki smiled, "Well then how would you like a chance to get out of being a sensei?"

Asuma straightened and fixed Ibiki with an intense stare, "How? What would I need to do?"

Ibiki paused to consider the best way to go about telling Asuma his plan, "You would need to support my idea."

Asuma's face took on a confused look, "What Idea?"

Ibiki looked Asuma strait in the eye as he said, "I want to have Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, and Haruno Sakura placed together as a team that would specialize in information gathering. I would be their jonin-sensei."

Asuma looked stunned, and then as the idea of straight-laced, perfectly ordered Ibiki trying to control three green brats hit his brain. he couldn't help but laugh. Several diners stared at Asuma's loud laugh.

Ibiki, however, didn't find Asuma's mirth amusing, and said in a dangerous growl, "What's wrong with my idea?

Asuma felt a cold chill seep into his body, and didn't find it hard at all to suppress his laughter, "I'm sorry Ibiki. I just can't picture you as a teacher; especially not for green genin."

Ibiki's scowl lightened by a small amount, "I won't deny they're green, but they also all showed significant talent for T&I work. I can help each one of them reach their full potential. Besides Asuma, you should remember that by supporting my idea, you get out of being a sensei."

Asuma sat back and gave Ibiki a serious searching look, "Do you really think you can do this Ibiki? Can you teach raw genin, and do it without completely breaking them?"

Ibiki sat to his full height and looked Asuma strait in the eye as he said, "Yes. I can teach them, and I can make them the best."

Asuma just stared at Ibiki for a sew seconds, and then smiled, "You can, and I'll support you."

If Ibiki were a less controlled man he would have grinned at his success in gaining the team he wanted. Instead he just relaxed, and enjoyed his meal.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey all sorry it took me so long to update. Thank you to all who reviewed; and added me to their favorites, author alerts, or communities. These things fill me with much joy, and make it easier for me to find my muse :).

Chapter 4 - Mizuki

Mizuki hated his job. He was watching a bunch of no talent brats stumble through his lessons while acting as if they actually knew what they were doing. But the worst part of his job was the Kyuubi brat. Why would that old incompetent of a Hokage actually think teaching the Kyuubi how to be a ninja would be a good idea? Mizuki smirked, 'If that idiot Hokage wants the Kyuubi trained I should train him well, Orochimaru-sama would be happy if that monster destroyed Konoha. But I would never teach a monster.' Mizuki focused on Naruto, 'Better to use the monster and then destroy him.'

Mizuki was brought out of his thoughts as the last bell of the class went off. After looking at the clock he realized he was late for his meeting, and rushed as quickly as he could towards the meeting place. In his haste he never noticed the small bird following him.

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Naruto had a reputation for being thick headed, but he knew something was wrong when Mizuki looked at him in _that _way. That look had murder in it he knew, only old drunks who wanted a piece of him gave looks that violent. Yes, Naruto knew Mizuki was up to something, and he was going to make sure Mizuki failed in whatever plan he was forming. The only way to do that was to know what it was. So, after class Naruto hid in an empty classroom, and transformed into a bird as he watched Mizuki race by.

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Naruto followed Mizuki to an old abandoned shack in the forest on the edge of Konoha's border. When he got there he saw an older teenager with strait white hair and two red dots just above the space between his eyebrows. This teen was frowning at Mizuki as Mizuki calmly came forward with a confident smirk on his face, "So, who are you? I thought I'd be giving my report to Sakon and Ukon like normal."

The teen glared at Mizuki and replied, "I am Kimmimaru, leader of the sound five. Orochimaru-sama is unhappy with your work. He has sent me to ensure you agree to your new mission."

For the first time Mizuki looked worried, "I'm assuming I die if I don't agree, so, what's the mission?"

Kimmimaru had a dangerous glint in his eye as he said, "You are correct, if you do not agree to this mission you will die, however you'll die if you fail the mission as well. Don't worry though if you succeed you will be amply rewarded."

By the look of Mizuki's face he was getting impatient, "Get on with it kid! What's the mission?"

Before Naruto could blink Kimmimaru had Mizuki up against the wall of the shack by his throat, "Do not call me so informally," Kimmimaru hissed, "I am Orochmaru's third in command! Never again forget that I outrank you. Now your mission is to leave Konoha, but you had better come to Oto (sound) with the forbidden scroll of seals and don't allow yourself to be followed or you will be killed."

Mizuki paled in terror, "Are you kidding? The forbidden scroll? I might as well go and tell the Hokage I'm a traitor now!"

Kimmimaru gave an amused smirk, "Feel free to do so, but remember, without that scroll you will become one of my masters experiments. So, either succeed, or die here; it will be faster and less painful than giving yourself to Orochimaru-sama."

With his message given Kimmimaru let go of Mizuki's throat and prepared to leave. Mizuki got a desperate look on his face as he shouted, "Wait! Before you go tell me, does Orochimaru-sama have any plans for the Kyuubi brat?"

At Mizuki's shout Kimmimaru paused, "No, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki is of no interest to my master." With that stated Kimmimaru disappeared. Soon after Mizuki left as well leaving Naruto alone in the clearing.

After both enemies were gone naruto flew down to the center of the clearing and undid his transformation. Naruto had been right, Mizuki did have a plan, and it included him. That thought caused Naruto's thoughts to take him back to when Hokage-jiji had told him about the Kyuubi being sealed inside him. That had been an awful day. Naruto shook his head, but now was not the time to think about it. Mizuki had a plan to get the forbidden scroll, and it included him. Now Naruto needed to figure out how he was going stop Mizuki. With a frown Naruto turned and began his walk home, tomorrow was the graduation exam after all, he needed to be ready.

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Naruto watched as his classmates filtered into the room, and took their usual seats. It was easy to tell that the other students were nervous, it was no surprise really they all were about to take the test that would start their career. Naruto narrowed his eyes as Mizuki walked in with Iruka. Iruka cleared his throat to get the classes attention, and all the students focused their attention on him, "All right class its time to start the genin exam. As Mizuki passes the the written tests around I'll explain the rules of this exam. First if your going to cheat don't get caught, getting caught will mean immediate failure. This exam will have five parts in the areas of book knowledge, weapons, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjustsu. You must pass at least three portions of the test to become a ninja. Now, it appears all the tests have been passed out so you may begin."

Naruto turned over his test and began to read question 1. His face took on a look of confusion as he looked at the question, 'Thats weird these questions are way too hard for an academy student, I don't even think Sakura could answer these.' Naruto looked to the front of the classroom at Mizuki to see that Mizuki had a smirk on his face, 'Mizuki must have switched out my test, but why? He's an arrogant jerk who always teaches me wrong, but he's never given me a harder test. I wonder if this has anything to do with Mizuki's plan to steal the scroll.' Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought, 'It might, I'll play along and see what happens, it's not like I could pass this test anyway, but I wonder if Mizuki will sabotage the others.'

Naruto had a fun time watching to see all the ways Mizuki tried to sabotage his test. He was working way too hard for this too just be malicious, so this must be part of his plan. Naruto was pretty sure he was right so he was going to purposely fail.

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Naruto had been right, after failing the test Mizuki had come to him and made up some idiotic story about being able to retest to become a genin by stealing the forbidden scroll and learning a jutsu from inside it. It was obviously a lie, but it gave a great opportunity for Naruto to check out some powerful jutsus, he just hoped he could get away with it.

Now Naruto was sneaking through the streets of Konoha on his way to the Hokage Tower. He froze a block away from the Hokage tower as he heard another patrol pass by. Wow a block away from the Hokage Tower and already there were heavier patrols. There was no way he would be able to make it to the tower as he was. Naruto sat down in the shadow he was in and thought about what he could do to improve his chances of succeeding on this quasi-mission.

After about five minutes of thought Naruto got a smile on his face and bounced up while putting his hands in the ram sign. If he couldn't make it as a human, he would have to go in as something else. With that Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and moments later a rat jumped out of the cloud, and headed for the Hokage Tower.

Naruto was amazed at how easy it had been to make it into the Hokage's personal office. He must have passed at least a dozen guards, but none of them paid any attention to him as a rat. Now he was trying to find the entrance to the old mans private library, and he had to say, the old man did a god job of hiding it. Unfortunately for the old man Naruto had seen him open it before, now he just needed to remember how. If he remembered right, the switch for the door was in the top drawer under a false bottom and an Icha Icha book. Yep thats where it was. Ha! He had just proved his awesomeness. As Naruto pushed the button one of the shelves swung inward, and, with a grin, Naruto sauntered into his jiji's private library.

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Naruto was getting worried he'd been in jiji's private library for almost fifteen minutes and still hadn't found the scroll. Who knew jiji's library was so huge? Still there was a lot of cool stuff in here, even old highly classified mission reports. Naruto would love to sit down and read those, and if he weren't in a rush he probably would, but for now, where the heck was that scroll? Finally Naruto found it on the wall next to what had to be the coolest document in the entire library, the Fourth's will. Oh if only he had more time! It would be awesome to read the Fourth's will, but his time was running out so Naruto just grabbed the forbidden scroll and ran out shutting the library door behind him.

Now that Naruto was in the Hokage's personal office he would try to escape out the window. Just as he was about to open the window he herd a voice behind him, "Naruto?" Naruto spun around to see Hokage-jiji standing there with a look on his face that was quickly turning from confusion to ... disappointment. No doubt His jiji had figured out what he was doing. The look of disappointment on his jiji's face was almost enough to make him stop, but this might be his only chance to see these moves for a long time, and they could give him a badly needed edge against his better educated age mates. He also needed to make it seen like this was all part of some test without making it obvious. So, thinking quickly, Naruto put his hands in the ram seal and started his transformation while shouting, "Sorry jiji! But I gotta pass this test!" with that Naruto transformed into a bird and flew out the window.

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The Hokage rushed to the window, but Naruto had already disappeared, taking the forbidden scroll of seals with him. Sarutobi felt fear as he called for his ANBU to gather all on duty shinobi to the front of the tower. Naruto could not be allowed to finish reading that scroll, if he did he would know the formula for the Shiki Fuuin. Who knows what Naruto would do with knowledge of the seal that holds the Kyuubi back. Determined to catch Naruto before he could do real damage he went to inform his subordinates of Naruto's theft and inform them of their mission to, gently, capture Naruto.

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As Naruto flew away from the Hokage tower, he felt bad for doing that to jiji, but he needed this, and besides he really couldn't think about this right now. He was sure all sorts of shinobi were looking for him, and he still had one more stop to make before he left town.

With that the bird disappeared to be replaced by Mizuki running down the road. Mizuki came to a breathless stop in front of Irukas door and urgently knocked. A confused and slightly irritated Iruka opened his door, "Mizuki? What the heck are you doing here so late at night?"

Mizuki after catching his breath said, "Iruka it's Naruto, he's stolen the forbidden scroll! Come quick you were always the best at catching him after his pranks we need your help!"

When Iruka heard what Naruto had done he went white as a sheet then gave a determined nod, "Alright lets go the sooner we find Naruto the less trouble he'll be in."

Mizuki nodded, "I agree, but lets spilt up we'll have a better chance of finding Naruto that way."

Iruka gave a small stressed smile, "All right Mizuki, I'll see you later then." With that Iruka went running down the road in search of his wayward student.

Mizuki watched as Iruka disappeared down the street before he vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a frowning Naruto. This whole thing was making Naruto feel more and more guilty, first his jiji's disappointment and now Iruka's worry. He was hurting the people closest to him, and it was awful. But it was too late to stop now he had to get Mizuki to prove his guilt or Naruto would take the fall. So, Naruto once again pushed his guilt to the back of his mind and rushed off to the drop zone. Hopefully Iruka would be able to find him before Mizuki did, or there would be no one to hear Mizuki's confession.

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Iruka was frantic. He'd been searching for Naruto for hours with no sign, and he wasn't the only one searching. There were a lot of angry shinobi looking for Naruto too. Iruka hoped he was ok. Iruka had started searching the forest after an hour in the city yielded no results. He was about to give up, and go to a different section of the forest when he heard voices coming from the west. So, Iruka went to go investigate.

When Iruka found the sources of the voices he was surprised to see Naruto standing on the ground and staring angrily at Mizuki who was standing on a tree limb talking to Naruto, "Do you know why your hated? Why I'll be praised as a hero for bringing in your lifeless corpse?" Iruka stiffened, what was Mizuki doing threatening to kill a child, and from the looks of it also getting close to breaking an S class law.

Naruto frowned in suspicion, "No. Why am I hated?"

Mizuki gave a malevolent smirk, "The fourth sealed the Kyuubi into you the night you were born!" Naruto looked stunned and confused. Mizuki gave a grunt of frustration, "Don't you get it? You are the Nine-Tailed fox!"

Iruka was shocked and angry that Mizuki would say such a thing to Naruto, he was about to step in, but froze at Naruto's next words, "Is that why you lied to me and tricked me into stealing the forbidden scroll under the guise of some test!"

Mizuki smiled, "Of corse, I can leave now and all the blame will fall on you. They'll even blame you for my death by the time I finish doctoring this scene. They won't even be sad that your dead. Not even your precious Iruka, or dear Hokage. Yes, ensuring that you failed your genin exams so I could frame you was the best idea I've ever had."

Iruka was raging how dare Mizuki say those things to Naruto! And how could he be all right with rigging the genin exams! Iruka was going to go and beat the crap out of Mizuki, but he was once again interrupted from his plans as the angry Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by a tall blond haired blue eyed man who looked just as angry as Naruto had.

A startled Mizuki asked, "Who are you?"

The unknown man said in a voice of tightly suppressed anger, " I am Kiiroi, a friend of Naruto's. You aren't nearly as clever as you think you are. Naruto was suspicious of you when you told him of the retake test, when he saw the Hokages surprise at Naruto being in his personal library he knew something was wrong. So, he came to me for help in proving that this was a trap. I'm glad he did, now you have not only illegally used your authority as a teacher. You have broken an S ranked law. For that you are under arrest to be executed at Hokage-sama's convenience."

Mizuki looked frightened, "No! I will not go to my death!" With that he took off running. Unfortunately he chose to run right towards Iruka's hiding place. Moments later he was kissing the ground with Iruka holding him in a strangle hold.

Iruka whispered in Mizuki's ear, "I have never before been as tempted to kill someone as I am with you. How dare you try to say and do those things to Naruto! I will be happy to report everything you have said tonight to Hokage-sama, and I will enjoy knowing of your punishment." With that Iruka knocked Mizuki out and turned toward Kiiroi; only to find that Kiiroi was gone, leaving the forbidden scroll and a note behind.

Iruka picked up the note and read, "Iruka, thank you for knocking out Mizuki, I would appreciate it if you would take Mizuki ANBU's T&I and the scroll to Hokage-sama, as well as telling Hokage-sama what happened here tonight, and insuring restitution for Naruto. I realize this is a lot to ask of you, but I would appreciate it. I would do all of this myself, but I think I should get back to Naruto to keep him safe until this all dies down."

Iruka blinked and reread the note then looked over to Mizuki and at the vary large forbidden scroll, and then sighed; he was going to have fun getting this all back to Konoha. Ah well the sooner he started the sooner he'd get done. So Iruka began his arduous walk back to Konoha with the forbidden scroll and Mizuki in tow.

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Naruto watched Iruka go, and was grateful for how much Iruka cared, but he felt horribly about the way he had used Iruka tonight, and now he was leaving Iruka to haul all that heavy stuff to Konoha on his own. Then and there Naruto swore to himself that he would never again manipulate someone close to him unless the safety of the village depended on it, and he hoped it never would. Naruto gave a smile at least he had gotten what he wanted, an awesome cloning jutsu called shadow clone jutsu, and he saw other cool things in the scroll too. He just wished he'd had more time with it. Oh well, he was still gonna own his age mates at being a ninja! Another thought came to Naruto then, he could help Iruka with his load. With that thought Naruto transformed himself into an ANBU and took off to go help his friend.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Hey all! Once again thanks for the reviews, they are always appreciated.

Chapter 5- Ibiki

Naruto confidently sauntered into class on the day of team placements with a scratched up, slightly dinged Hitai-ate (forehead protector) sitting on his forehead. He went and sat down next to the jerk Sasuke. Naruto was happy to be there for team placements, and was grateful that jiji had let him become a genin. He still remembered how surprised he'd been when Iruka-sensei showed up at his door.

_**FLASHBACK**_

It was the day after Naruto had stolen the forbidden scroll, and stopped Mizuki's treachery. Naruto had been on an emotional high ever since he managed to outsmart Mizuki. But now as he was coming out of the joy of his success he realized he'd miscalculated on something. Yeah he'd beaten Mizuki, and had even learned a wicked awesome jutsu, but he'd still failed the genin exam. So, even though he'd been amazing, he was still an academy student. Dangit! Naruto was brought out of his angry brooding by a knock on his door. He was tempted not to answer, after all it couldn't be anything good, and he wanted to brood some more. Naruto's thoughts froze and he paled as he realized what he had just thought. He wanted to brood some more? Oh heck no! He was not going to be like Sauske-Ge(ge- yuck, gross)! As whoever was outside Naruto's door knocked again, Naruto looked at the door like it would be his salvation, after all he can't brood like Sasuke-Ge if he's not alone. With thought Naruto rushed to the door and threw it open revealing the surprised face of Iruka. Naruto's face brightened to see the person he secretly saw as his nii-san (older brotherish, but not related by blood), "Iruka-sensei! What are you doin here?"

Iruka gave a sly grin, "Wow if you have to ask why I'd show up at your door I must not visit enough. Do I really need an excuse to visit my favorite student."

Naruto gave a cheeky grin, "Hey I'm your favorite student? I thought teachers were supposed to like all their students the same, and of course you can visit whenever you want Iruka-sensei."

Iruka's grin grew into a warm genuine smile, "Your right Naruto teachers are supposed to be impartial, but only until their students graduate."

Naruto looked confused, "But I didn't graduate," Naruto's face suddenly took on a look of understanding and then it fell in disappointment, "I get it. I'm the only one in my class who didn't graduate, and so your not being impartial cause you can't be, I'm your only student."

Iruka winced at how sad and dejected Naruto looked, but he knew his news would cheer Naruto up. Now how should he tell Naruto? Iruka smiled as he got an idea, "Naruto can you close your eyes for a sec? I've got a surprise for you."

Naruto was pulled out out his sad mood as he looked up at Iruka with curiosity shining in his eyes. When he saw Iruka's caring smile he nodded and closed his eyes. While his eyes were closed he could feel Iruka messing around with something near his head. This made Naruto all the more curious,and he couldn't wait until Iruka let him open his eyes so he could see what his surprise was. Finally Naruto heard Iruka say he could open his eyes. As he opened them he was shocked to see that Iruka's hitai-ate was missing, and then he became aware of an unfamiliar weight on his own forehead. He quickly reached up to feel what was there a was amazed to find Iruka-sensei's hitai-ate there. Naruto looked at Iruka with wide eyes, "I, I don't understand. Why did you give this to me when I didn't graduate?"

Iruka's smile grew bigger, "Sandiame-sama was impressed by the amount of ability you showed when sneaking into the tower, and even escaping him when he caught you. So when Hokage-sama found out Mizuki rigged your test he decided to discount those results, and let you become a genin because of the ability you'd shown while doing Mizuki's false test." Iruka's face took on a look of nervousness as he pulled out a new unmarred hitai-ate, "This hitai-ate is the one I was supposed to give to you, but I'm so proud of you Naruto. I would be honored if you would continue to wear the one I did give you, which is my own."

Naruto felt like crying for happiness, but quickly dashed the few tears away, and then tackle-hugged Iruka with a shout of, "Iruka-sensei!" Naruto pulled back enough to see Iruka's face and said, "Thank you! I love this forehead protector, and I'm never taking it off!"

_**END FLASHBACK**_

Naruto had a smile on his face as he relived the memory, but he was soon brought out of his happy moment by the unholy shrieking of two Sasuke fan-girls, namely, Ino and Sakura. As he looked over to see what the two she-devi-I mean young "ladies" were doing he saw that they where having a cat fight and flinging insults at each other all while being stuck in the classroom's door frame. It looked like they were trying to get through the door frame at the same time, and it looked ridiculous. Finally Sakura managed to push past Ino into the room and started crowing about how she'd won, at least until Ino got in her face. That started an another even more intense cat fight. Naruto was distracted from the cat fight by Kiba talking to him, "Hey what're you doin here dabo (complete idiot)? This class is for _genin_ only."

Naruto glared at Kiba and pointed to his hitai-ate, "You blind Kiba? I'm a ninja too."

Kiba snorted, "You expect that old scratched up hitai-ate to be proof that you graduated? It's obvious you just fished that out of the trash or something."

Naruto's glare became glacial, "I earned this hitai-ate, and Iruka-sensei gave it to me as proof that I earned it. Besides no good ninja would leave a hitai-ate lying around for spies to steal and use."

Kiba glared at being out smarted by the idiot, and was about to retort when a new voice joined the conversation. "Mendoi(troublesome), leave Naruto alone Kiba. He wouldn't be here if he hadn't earned it."

Both Naruto and Kiba looked to see that Shikamaru was the one who interrupted. Kiba gave Shikamaru an annoyed glare and then scoffed, "This talk is a waste of my time anyway." After saying that strolled off.

Meanwhile Naruto just gave Shikamaru a confused look, Shikamaru didn't say anything. He just looked Naruto in the eye, and Naruto was surprised to find respect there. As a look a disbelief made its way onto Naruto's face Shikamaru just gave Naruto a respectful nod and then went off to find a comfortable seat to take a nap in.

Naruto just sat in his seat with a dazed looked on his face. No one had ever looked at him with respect before, and it was weird; a good weird, but still weird. Naruto wasn't quite sure what he should feel about apparently gaining Shikamaru's respect. Why would Shikamaru respect him anyway? A rather painful fist to the head brought Naruto out of his thoughts. He turned an annoyed glare onto the person who hit him only to find out that the culprit was Sakura. Immediately the look changed from annoyed to that of a kicked puppy, "Ah Sakura what was that for?" Naruto said in a whiny voice.

Sakura hit Naruto on the head again, "Naruto, your taking up the only seat next to Sasuke-kun. Now move so I can sit there!"

At this Ino decided to but into the conversation, "No way are you sitting next to Sasuke-kun, forehead. That seat's reserved for me!"

Sakura whirled around ready to retort when five more girls butted in and staked their claim to Naruto's already clearly claimed seat. Within a few minutes there were at least fifteen girls around Naruto's seat all fighting to see who would get to sit next to Sasuke. Naruto knew he was only safe until one of the girls came out on top, so he prudently decided to move seats before they all decided to attack him. With a glare at Sauske-Tako (stupid jerk) Naruto snuck past the rabid fan girls and went to go sit by Shino.

The girls' fight, which had become another cat fight, was brought to an abrupt halt as Iruka came into the classroom and yelled for all of them to settle down and get into seats. Sakura hurried and stole the seat next to Sasuke while all the other girls found seats, but not before giving Sakura an evil glare for winning.

After everyone was seated and paying attention to Iruka, he cleared his throat and began his final lecture, "You're here because you are now ninja of Konoha." Iruka paused and a smile made its way onto his face, "Congratulations, I'm proud of all of you. However, before I can let you out into the world as ninja I need to make sure you remember that as ninja, every act you make reflects on Konoha. So, make sure you only do things that will make Konoha proud." Iruka again paused and looked like he was deciding how to phrase what he was going to say next. With a serious face he continued. "Also your lives just got a lot more dangerous. Those of you who slacked at the academy because you could get away with it," at that comment Iruka looked strait at Shikamaru, "can't do that anymore. All of you need to take training, missions, and everything else about ninja life as seriously as you can. If you don't, you'll probably die." Iruka's speech made several of the once-confident genin look nervous, the rest pushed aside Iruka's sound advice.

Iruka looked at his students and was disappointed that so few seemed to hear him, but still continued, "Now for team placements," Iruka quickly went through teams 1 through 6, "Team 7 will be: Akamichi Choji, Uchiha Sasuke and Yamanaka Ino. Your jonin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." As Ino herd she would be on Sasuke's team she gave a shout of joy and rubbed it in Sakura's face while Sakura was wailing in despair. Iruka shouted for silence and once it was had, continued, "Team 8 will be: Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba. Your jonin-sensei will be Yuuhi Kurinai. Team 9 is still active from last year. And finally Team 10 will be Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jonin-sensei will be Morino Ibiki." Iruka had a strange look in his eyes as he read off team 10. Not that most of team 10 noticed, Shikamaru did then he slumped over mumbling mendoi, he knew this Ibiki person was in a high level position by how easily they had gotten in to see the Hokage, and, based on how scared Iruka-sensei had been of him, and how scared he still seemed to be, Ibiki was probably not a very nice person either. Naruto was dancing around celebrating his fate, and Sakura was bemoaning hers. So, Because of their distraction 2 of the 3 missed Iruka's look which could have been a very useful warning. Iruka finished off his speech by stating that they would have an hour to eat lunch before their jonin sensei would arrive, he then dismissed the students.

All the students started talking about their new teams, and moving to find their new teammates to get to know them better if they didn't know them well already.

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Shikamaru was beginning to wonder if becoming a shinobi was a good idea. During lunch he wanted to relax, but Naruto refused to leave him alone. He thought Naruto was a pretty ok guy; ever since Shikamaru had learned about the Kyuubi he'd paid more attention to his blond classmate, and he had noticed how... crappy Naruto's life had been. Shikamaru had to give Naruto props for still being sane, and really Shikamaru had a lot of respect for Naruto. However that did not change the fact that Naruto was loud and un-relaxing and all Shikamaru wanted to do was relax. Yeah it was just his luck that out of a class with 27 students he got put on a team with 2 out of 4 of the loudest. All the students started to head back into class as the end of lunch bell rang, and Shikamaru followed while ignoring Naruto's nattering in his ear.

As Shikamaru walked into class he noticed that a jonin-sensei was already there. The jonin was a big man with a scarred face that look like it was permanently set in a glower. Shikamaru knew this man was Ibiki, his sensei. He noticed that almost all the students looked intimidated and he didn't blame them. Ibiki or Ibiki-sensei he supposed did look like a rather scary man, and him being Shikamaru's sensei was yet another reason to wonder if it was really a good idea to become a ninja.

After all the students had taken their seats Ibiki cleared his throat, "Team 10, meet me at training ground 5 in ten minutes. If you're not there in time you'll be back in here. As a student." After he said that Ibiki turned and walked out of the room.

Shikamaru saw Naruto jump up and start to run out the door, but when Naruto realized that both he and Sakura weren't following he ran back up to Shikamaru, "Come on Shikamaru! If we don't hurry we're gonna be students again."

Shikamaru studied Naruto for a minute then looked away, "Sounds good to me. I can already tell that this stinks of trouble."

Naruto's jaw dropped in shock and then he got an angry look on his face, "No way are you copping out on this Shikamaru-guzu (Shikamaru-lazy). I worked hard to become a genin so if you think I'll just let you be lazy and mess up both our chances you have another thing coming! If you think its too "mendoi" to go to the training ground keep in mind that by not going you'll force me to make you my main prank victim for at least a year!"

Shikamaru stared at Naruto and weighed the pro's and con's over staying or going. Ibiki looked mean and appeared to command fear from the upper ranks. The genius really didn't want to see what kind of training this guy would give them. On the other hand Naruto was really good at being annoying. If Shikamaru didn't go now he probably wouldn't have any peace for the next year. Ibiki would be better. So with his mind made up Shikamaru nodded to Naruto and made to stand. Then he and Naruto made their way over to Sakura, where Naruto once again started the conversation, "C'mon Sakura! If we don't hurry we'll all fail!"

Sakura gave Naruto an angry look, "No! I'm not abandoning Sasuke-kun!" Shikamaru really wanted to bang his head on something after hearing Sakura's comment. Why, oh why did he have to be put on a team with a loud annoying fan girl?

"But Sakura-chan if you don't stay a kunoichi that won't impress Sasuke-busaiku (Sasuke- pretty ugly), and if we don't hurry all three of us will stay students."

Sakura glared at Naruto and bonked him on the head, "Don't call Sasuke-kun ugly!" After Sakura had said that she marched toward the door, but before she got there she turned around and shouted, "Lets go if we don't hurry we won't make it in time, and there's no way I'm ever gonna be a student again!" With that all three genin hurried toward training ground 5 and their new sensei.

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The new team 10 got to training ground five with only a minute to spare. Ibiki watched the three genin come to a stop and noticed that both Shikamaru and Sakura were out of breath, while Naruto seemed to have just come from a relaxing stroll. Ibiki frowned at witnessing Shikamaru and Sakuras' level of physical fitness. They were obviously not in the proper shape to be ninja, and that would have to be fixed.

As team 10 got their breathing under control Ibiki started to speak, "Listen up genin. You were hand picked by me to be part of an experimental team; your team will focus on information gathering. You were each chosen for your perceived skill in this area. However, to make sure the right selection was made, you will be given a test. If you fail the test you will be sent back to the academy for another year." Ibiki paused and watched the three genins' responses to his threat. Sakura looked scared, Naruto determined, and Shikamaru, unsurprisingly, looked bored. Ibiki continued, "Normally a new team would have introductions, but I'm not wasting my time with that crap. After four years of being in the same class you three should know each other, if you don't you can make the introductions on your own time." Ibiki watched as Sakura hesitantly raised her hand, "Do you think your still in the academy girl? For now at least your a genin, so act like it. If you have a question ask it. Don't raise your hand like a kid."

It was easy to see how intimidated Sakura was, but, in a shaky voice, she still asked her question, "W..w..we know each other Ibiki-sensei, but how will we know anything about you if you don't tell us?"

Ibiki gave Sakura a disappointed glare, "Your team was formed for the purpose of gathering information. If you want knowledge find it as a team. My job is to teach you how to do that, but I'm not going to make it easy. Everything you learn about me will be through your own skill, you know my name, and thats a key piece of knowledge that will make finding out more about me easy." All three genin looked intimidated and disheartened, although only Sakura's emotions were obvious. Ibiki frowned at Sakura's expression, and filed it away as another weakness to work on.

"Now," Ibiki said, "if your done asking stupid questions, I'll explain your mission to you. I will only explain this once, and I will not tolerate any interruptions. If you interrupt me that will be the end of the debriefing, even if you don't have all the information. So shut up and listen carefully. As part of a genin's graduation requirements they are required to go through a test by their jonin-sensei. If they fail, they will be sent back to the academy. Each jonin chooses their own test to insure that the genin they're getting have the qualities the jonin wants them to have. One jonin-sensei by the name of Hatake Kakashi, always gives the same test, this test includes retrieving something. Your mission is to find out what Hatake Kakashi's test requires you to retrieve, and then retrieve it. You must do this without Hatake finding out who you are; if he does, you fail. I will admit that this test is harder than most new genin tests, so I'll give you two hints. First, you'll only succeed in this test if you do it as a team; Second, Hatake Kakashi has a tendency towards tardiness and might not have picked up his team yet, if you hurry you might be able to find him there, and find out more info. I will meet you in this training ground tomorrow at 20:00 hours. To either pass, or fail you. That is all genin. Get to work." After giving the mission description Ibiki disappeared in a gust of wind and leaves.

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When the leaves had settled and Ibiki seemed to be gone, Naruto jumped to his feet and shouted, "C'mon guys! We need to hurry and find Kakashi and pass the test!"

Sakura also rose to her feet and made sure she had no dirt on her. However Sakura noticed that Shikamaru was still on the ground, "What are you doing Shikamaru? We need to hurry or we're not going to pass this test."

Shikamaru looked between Naruto and Sakura then sighed, "Mendoi. If we just run over there with no plan we're definitely going to fail."

Both Naruto and Sakura gave Shikamaru quizzical looks, but it was Naruto who spoke, "Huh? What do you mean Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru was tempted to sigh again, "Our target is a jonin and we're not allowed to reveal who we are. If we just go as ourselves the jonin will definitely catch us and we'll fail. Unless you guys think your stealth skills can beat a jonin's detection skills."

Sakura was nervously biting her lip as she thought about what Shikamaru just said. Naruto on the other-hand just looked confused as he asked, "Why are you so worried? Being undetected by jonin is easy."

Sakura snorted and hit Naruto on the head, "Like you even know Naruto. Jonin are better then genin, it's why their jonin. So, don't even try to pretend you can get past one."

Naruto rubbed his head and pouted at Sakura, "Of course I can get past them. I do it all the time. Did you have to hit me Sakura?"

Sakura matched Naruto's pout with glare, "Stop lying Naruto, or I'll hit you again! There's no way you could evade a jonin. I know you get caught by Iruka-sensei all the time, and he's just a chunin."

Naruto looked hurt then angry as he took a forceful step towards Sakura, "I've gotten by ANBU, Believe it! The only reason Iruka-sensei catches me is because I like him, and catching me makes him look good!"

Sakura opened her mouth to continue the argument when Shikamaru butted in, "Have you ever tricked Kakashi before Naruto?"

It took a moment for Naruto's thoughts to catch up with his ears, but after that moment he replied, "Yeah, I've even gotten Kakashi to treat me to lunch." Sakura snorted and Naruto glared at her, "I have!"

Shikamaru interrupted the start of another pointless argument, "Good then you go and wait for Kakashi, find out anything you can about his test, and then come back here, Sakura and I will be waiting. By-the-way, even though I believe you, remember not to get caught. After you get what info you can we'll set up a strategy for retrieving the test object."

Naruto gave a serious nod and then headed off to the academy to learn what he could. As he headed out of the training ground he could hear Sakura yelling at Shikamaru. He hoped his two team mates didn't kill each other while he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N I've gotten a lot of reviews about including Sakura as part of team psych. I know that a lot of people displeased by this decision. In answer to that; I want you to know I believe in character growth and Sakura's character will grow. I hate the canon Sakura and there's no way I could keep writing her like that I think I'd kill her off first. I'd also like to thank my beta Nex-thanarak, without whom this story would not be up here. Also thank you to all those who reviewed I am happy to get them as it helps me know what I need to work on.

Chapter 6 - Kakashi

As Naruto started out on his newest fact finding mission he was grateful that Shikamaru, at least, trusted him enough to fulfill this assignment, and Naruto hoped that this trust was an indication that Team 10 had a chance of not crashing and burning. But these thoughts were best left for another time, because right now Naruto had a mission to do.

Naruto sped up as he made his way to the academy. He knew if he showed up at the academy as himself chances were better that he would be found out, so when he got to the gates of the academy he transformed into a mouse, and scurried up to his old classroom.

Naruto got to the classroom about an hour after the jonin were allowed to come pick up their students, and all the teams except one were gone. Naruto groaned when he saw the team that was still there and prayed that Kakashi had already picked up his team. Because if this was Kakashi's team he knew his team was going to fail. The team that was still in the room was Sasuke-Mazui's(something that sucks) team. No way would Sakura do anything that might tick Sasuke-Mazui off. Still Naruto sat and waited to see who this team's jonin-sensei would be. A half hour later he was cursing his luck, because no matter how much he didn't want it to be true; only Kakashi would be this late to a meeting. After another 15 minutes of cursing his luck, Naruto's assumptions were proven correct as Kakashi walked into the classroom.

Naruto watched as Ino shouted, "You're late!", And Kakashi replied with a, "Well my first impression of you is that you're annoying. Meet me on the roof." Then Kakashi poofed away and Naruto and team 7 hurried up to the roof.

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Naruto was disappointed. After watching team 7 introduce themselves he found out that Kakashi's test would start tomorrow at 0500, meaning it would really start at 0900, and that was pretty much it. So, after both team 7 and Kakashi had left. Naruto sat and pondered on how he could get more information about the test, because what he had wouldn't be enough for his team to make a good strategy. The only way Naruto could think of to get more information was to ask; so, he would. With a mischievous grin on his face Naruto transformed into Kiiroi, and headed off to see his good friend Kakashi.

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After an hour of searching, Kiiroi found Kakashi at Dingo's Dangos reading his favorite book. So, after ordering himself a plate of dango, the disguised Naruto went and sat down by Kakashi, "Hora(hey!) Kakashi! Want some company?" The masked jonin casually looked up from his book to see his friend Kiiroi standing next to his table with a grin on his face. Kakashi smiled in greeting and gestured for his friend to take a seat, and then went back to his book.

Not at all put out by Kakashi ignoring him, Kiiroi sat down heavily and once again spoke, "Boy have I had a day! You know I didn't know you'd gotten yourself another genin team Kakashi, you've really got to stop being so private."

The jonin looked up in surprise when Kiiroi spoke about his team, "How did you find out I got another team?"

The shape shifter grimaced, "Your team jumped me. They must'a heard me talking to someone about you." Kiiroi gave a shrug, "They were horribly annoying, especially with their demands that I tell them all about your test. Impertinent brats, I wouldn't have told them anything, even if I did know. But, I gotta say their pathetic interrogation did make me curious about your test. Any idea what you're going to do with those brats?"

Kakashi got an evil look in his eye, "Knowing you Kiiroi you'd go and tell them whatever I told you in hopes that they'd pass and heal my dark and shattered mind."

Kiiroi looked hurt, "C'mon man I wouldn't do that. Anything you tell me about that test might as well be sacred, I won't tell a soul," He paused and a wicked grin came to his face, "At least, not until after you're done torturing your genin. Besides, even if I do think your mind could use a push into happier places I doubt those threes terrors could do it."

The jonin smiled and leaned back as Kiiroi's dango arrived, "Fair enough, but I'm still not giving out this info for free."

The shape shifter frowned with a calculating look in his eyes, "What do you want?"

Kakashi stole a stick of dango off Kiiroi's plate, "Pay my tab here, and I'll tell you all about my test."

Kiiroi laughed, "Knowing you my friend, the tab here is ridiculously high, and I'm not paying for it. As curious as I am about your test; It wouldn't be worth more than a free plate of dango."

The masked man frowned in disappointment, "You know me too well my friend." He gave a sigh, "Fine. Order me my dango and I'll tell you about my test."

As the disguised Naruto signaled the cook for another plate of dango he spoke, "I only know that trick so well because you managed to stick me with a bill of 20,982 yen ($200). Now, tell me about this genin test of yours."

Kakashi got a smug grin on his face, "It's called the bell test, and while I can't take credit for creating it; I have to say it's the most brilliant genin test ever formed."

Kiiroi raised an eyebrow, "Well as nice as it is to know you didn't create it, I'm more interested in how the test works."

The jonin made a shushing motion, "Quiet! I'm getting to that, but the test will sound so much cooler with my build up. Now as I was saying, the bell test was created by the Nidaime(second hokage), and passed on to his student the Sandaime(third hokage), He passed it onto his student Jiraya-sama of the Three Sannin, who passed it onto his student the Yondaime( fourth hokage), who passed it onto me." Kakashi finished with a smug grin.

The blond man whistled, "Wow that's quite the pedigree. This bell test must be pretty impressive."

Kakashi's smug grin was still firmly in place as he replied, "There's a reason this test is the most brilliant test ever created, and the hardest. I've already tested 11 fresh genin teams with this test and they all failed, and they failed for good reason."

Outwardly Kiiroi looked impressed, but inwardly Naruto's mind was going a mile a minute, 'Holy crap! 11 teams? Sensei must be a real scum-bag to give us this test. How the heck are we supposed to pass Sensei's test if Kakashi's is so hard?' The shape shifter pulled himself out of his thought's with a question, "That hard huh? How do the genin pass the test then?"

The masked man gave a sadistic grin, "Thats the beauty of this test; it's really quite simple if you stop, and think about it. To pass the test all you need is teamwork."

Kiiroi looked confused, "Ok, how does teamwork play into the test?"

Kakashi sighed, "Let me start at the beginning," He pulled two small silver bells out of his pocket and placed them on the table, "Here's what I do. I show the genin team these two bells and tell them that the 2 genin who manage to steal 1 of the bells from me will pass the test while the third genin will be sent back to the academy, however there's a chance that none of the genin will get the bells, and in that case they'll all be sent back to the academy."

The hidden genin frowned, "I'm still not getting how teamwork comes into this."

The jonin smiled and made a wide gesture with his hands, "Thats the beauty of this test. You see, no genin would have a snowball's chance of beating a jonin; only by working together as a team do they have any chance of getting the bells. So, one of the genin must decide to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team, or the whole team fails. It doesn't matter whether they get the bells at all. To pass, all they need to do is work together as a team."

Kiiroi stared at Kakashi in awe, "That's brilliant." The shape shifter dropped his eyes down to the two bells, and his thoughts froze. He could hear his friend in the background talking about something, but he wasn't paying attention. Right there in front of his were the objects sensei wanted them to retrieve, and right now was the perfect time to get it. Kakashi had no idea he was talking to Naruto the twelve year old genin, Kakashi thought he was talking to Kiiroi, his trusted friend. If the genin took the bells right now Kakashi would never be the wiser, and it would be way easier to get the bells now instead of waiting for the test tomorrow. But then, sensei did say that team 10 had to work together as a team didn't he? What was more important? Taking this golden opportunity to get the bells, or following sensei's orders and doing this test as a team? Suddenly the shape shifter became aware of his friend calling Kiiroi's name, and Kiiroi looked up, "What?"

Kakashi had a worried expression on his face, "Are you Ok Kiiroi? You seemed pretty out of it for a minute there."

'Crap', Naruto thought, 'gotta come up with an excuse.' Kiiroi a gave a sheepish smile, and rubbed the back of his head with one hand, "Sorry for blanking out like that, I was just trying to figure out the odds of your little team of devils passing your test. From what you told me it doesn't seem they have a very good chance."

The jonin stared at his blond friend for a minute longer then, after assuring himself Kiiroi was ok, he smiled and spoke, "Good, I don't want them to pass."

Kiiroi smiled and gave a laugh, but inside Naruto was thinking, 'What? He doesn't want a team? Hey! This might be my chance to steal the bells! Ok Naruto, think fast.' As the blond's laughter died down a thoughtful look came onto his face, "Hey Kakashi, I just thought of something. If you really don't want this team to pass, why don't you make the bells silent? Then they won't have the slightest chance of hearing where you're at."

Kakashi's face took on a thoughtful look as well, "It is an idea, but I don't have time to do it today, and I doubt it would make that much of a difference."

The shape shifter smiled, "Well hey let me do it for you, I think it would be worth it just to watch the arrogant little brats be put in their place."

The masked man gave his friend a suspicious look, "Are you really that bored?"

Kiiroi gave a small laugh, "Bored? Not at all. I just like watching genin get tortured in the name of training."

Kakashi was still looking at Kiiroi, "No you don't, you have a soft spot for anything that breaths."

The blond man got a hurt look on his face, "That's a little exaggerated, but fine, if it were any other set of kids, I'd feel sorry for them; but these kids really annoyed me when they tried to hit me up for information. I think I would have fun watching them be put in their place. So I'll make the bell's into funnily shaped balls if you will let me watch the humiliation."

The jonin still looked a little wary, but after staring at Kiiroi for a good minute he smiled, and held the bells out to him, "Deal, the test starts tomorrow at 0800 so get them to me by then, and then you can stick around and watch."

The shape shifter smiled and took the bells with only one thought going through his head, 'Success'

.

.

Sakura couldn't believe how stupid Shikamaru was being. What was the big idea of sending the dead last out to get information from a jonin? It was stupid, and if she failed and lost her chance at Sasuke-kun because of her idiotic teammates; heads were gonna roll. Where was that idiot Naruto anyway? He'd been gone for almost three hours. If Sakura had to bet she'd say the idiot got caught, and that was what was taking so long. The girl glared at Shikamaru who had fallen asleep about half-an-hour after Naruto-baka left. The violent teen was tempted to go and kick her lazy teammate awake, and get him to come help her hunt for the dead last. Sakura's violent thoughts were interrupted as Naruto came bounding into the clearing, "What are you so happy about baka, and what took you so long!"

The whiskered teen looked at Sakura and got a big grin on his face as pulled two bells out of his pocket and dangled them in front of himself, "I not only found out what Kakashi's test was, but I managed pass our test at the same time."

The pink-haired girl looked at Naruto like he was an idiot, "What are you talking about Naruto?"

The blond boy's grin grew bigger, "The objective of Kakashi's test was to retrieve these two bells. So, I retrieved them, and now were all gonna pass Sensei's stupid test!" Naruto's face took on a thoughtful look as he muttered, "Although Kakashi's gonna be pretty mad. Huh, I'd better avoid him for a while."

"WHAT!" Sakura shrieked, "Naruto you liar! I bet you got caught by Kakashi-sensei and now you're trying to lie about it."

Shikamaru, who had jerked awake at his female teammate's shriek, groaned and asked what was going on. At which point the whiskered teen excitedly told his lazy teammate of his success. Shikamaru sighed, "Sakura, Naruto is telling the truth. Good job Naruto. How did you do it?" The blond boy's insanely huge smile turned smug as he told his teammates how he'd done it.

Sakura was the first to speak after Naruto's story was through, "I don't believe a word of it. If you're going to lie you should at least make sure the facts are right."

The genius sighed, "Yeah Naruto, I wanted to believe you, but when you started talking like henges(transformations) were solid it was pretty easy to tell you were lying."

Naruto looked outraged and confused, in different circumstances it would have been a very funny face, but for now there were better things to think about, "I'm not lying!" The blond boy shouted, "I really did get these from Kakashi, and what do you mean 'talking like henges are solid'? What else would they be?"

Sakura growled a whacked Naruto on the head, "You baka! Normal henges are just illusions. It takes a special henge for it to be solid, and those are really rare so no way you know one! Didn't you pay any attention in the academy idiot!"

The whiskered teen looked really confused now, "What are you talking about? Henges are solid. What would be the use of an illusion henge?"

Shikamaru had a thoughtful look on his face, "Naruto, would you henge into the guy you met Kakashi-sensei as?"

Naruto still looked confused,but shrugged, "Sure." Naruto put his hands into the ram seal and focused his chakra, "Henge!" With a puff of smoke the blond boy disappeared and in his place a tall blond man with startlingly blue eyes stood.

Sakura couldn't help but drool at the very hot guy in front of her, at least until she remembered this guy was Naruto then she shuddered. Sakura was mad that her idiotic teammate got that kind of reaction out of her, so she tried to hit Naruto on the head. Only instead of her hand going through the illusion like it should. The girl's hand was stopped by the very real muscle covering this guys mid chest. Sakura stumbled back in shock, "No way! You're solid! You really are a six foot tall blond guy! That's impossible! no one can do henges like that."

Naruto's confusion only got worse, "It can't be impossible Sakura 'cause I'm doing a solid henge right now. Heck, I've been going around as Kiiroi for years now, and no-one else has freaked out about him being a solid henge. Because I'm sure that in all that time someone must have noticed Kiiroi wasn't real and investigated where he came from, and that would have led them to me. If solid henges are such a big deal how come they never tried to use me?"

Shikamaru was a little wide eyed as he spoke, "You've been going around as Kiiroi for _years_? Wow, that's impressive."

Sakura shouted and hit the lazy genius on the head, "How can you call that impressive it's unnatural! Naruto must be some kind of freak!"

The Kyuubi container flinched back as if he had experienced a physical blow from his aggressive teammate's words. He hadn't expected her to make such a big deal out of his henge. He'd always thought his henges were normal, but if Sakura thought they were strange, they probably were. Naruto stiffened and started to feel really nervous as he disengaged his henge. If his henges weren't normal then they probably had something to do with the fox. Great, now had had another thing that would set him apart as a freak, and it was all thanks to the blasted fox. But, how could he explain his henges without giving up his secret?

Shikamaru also looked stunned at the girl's harsh words, but quickly came to his senses when he saw Naruto start to get nervous. These henges were probably caused by the Kyuubi, and Sakura doesn't know about that. He needed to cover for his blond teammate, "Gee Naruto, I didn't know you had a bloodline."

Naruto looked confused and then relieved, "You think this is a bloodline? Well I didn't know either. I thought my henges were normal, but I guess if they really are unique it could be a bloodline."

Sakura looked like she was trying to imitate a fish as she said, "B-Bu-But that's impossible! The baka can't have a bloodline."

The lazy boy turned towards the violent girl, "Mendoi, why not Sakura?"

Sakura still looked shell shocked, "Because everyone would know! People with bloodlines are respected and have known family names."

Shikamaru sighed, "Naruto's an orphan, and no-one knows who his parents were. It's quite possible that one of Naruto's parent's had a bloodline and passed it onto him."

The shallow girl continue to stare at her surprising teammate in shock for another minute then squealed, "Wow this is so amazing wait til' I tell everyone about this! I finally have a piece of gossip better than Ino's. Ha! take that Ino-pig!"

Naruto looked baffled, hadn't Sakura just said that only a freak would have abilities like his, and now she's saying these abilities are amazing, just because Shikamaru called them a bloodline? Then as the rest of the girl's words registered the Kyuubi container started to really freak out, he couldn't let anyone find out about this. If the adults found out they would no doubt call him an uncontrollable risk, or something and scream for his death. Naruto was about to stop Sakura, and make sure she never told anyone, when the genius moved first.

Shikamaru frowned and grabbed the girl before she could run off, "You won't tell anyone about this Sakura. It's not your secret to tell, and if you do I'll make sure your ostracized by everyone in our group, and I'll do my best to make sure your family is ostracized too."

Now Naruto looked stunned and Sakura looked scared, "You wouldn't dare!"

The lazy boy was still frowning, "I will do it if you don't keep your mouth shut. Naruto is our teammate. Therefore, I will do what is necessary to stick by his side, and I will make you do the same if I have to. Now, go home, don't tell _anyone_ Naruto's secret, and meet us here tomorrow at 19:30 so we can show sensei we passed his test." A thoroughly cowed Sakura just nodded and ran. After the girl was out of sight Shikamaru turned to a still stunned Naruto.

"Why?" The blond boy asked.

The genius looked straight into Naruto's eyes, "I know about the Kyuubi." The whiskered teen looked scared, and so Shikamaru hurried to continue before Naruto ran away, "Good job holding the Kyuubi back even when it must be so tempting to just release it to get revenge on all the small minded people in this village."

The jinchuuriki was shocked, and while Shikamaru didn't say it outright, Naruto knew the lazy boy was saying he respected him, and, if what Shikamaru had done to Sakura was any indication, was willing to defend him. Someone his own age knew his secret, and didn't hate him. Was willing to protect him in fact. Naruto felt so happy, but then he had a moment of doubt. What if Shikamaru was just doing all because he felt obligated to? So, with a bit of suspicion in his eyes he spoke, " Your not just pretending to like me are you? Because I don't want you to be my friend if your just pretending." The blond boy's face brightened a bit, "Thats one good thing about the villagers they hate me, and do all they can to hurt me short of actual violence, but at least they're honest."

Shikamaru stared at Naruto, then snorted, "It would be too troublesome to pretend to like someone."

The jinchuuriki's smile could've lit up the sky on a moonless night he was so happy. Shikamaru might not have come right out and said it, but Naruto knew that he finally, finally had his first true friend.

Omake

A sullen Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone waiting for Kiiroi to show up. The jonin had told Kiiroi to meet him at 0800, it was now 0900 and that thief still hadn't shown. Kakashi frowned now he'd have to go find new bells as it was pretty obvious Kiiroi had made off with his. With a sigh Kakashi turned away from the memorial stone and started to head toward the shop where he had gotten his bells last time.

.

Kakashi stared at the, 'gone fishing,' sign on the front of the shop. What kind of merchant closed up shop to go fishing? The jonin shook his head and started heading down market road while looking to see if any of the shops he was passing might sell bells. He passed Durniks his favorite shinobi store, but there was no way they sold bells there. So Kakashi continued on his way.

.

An hour had passed and Kakashi was starting to get desperate he'd gone into every shop he thought might sell bells. Kakashi even went into a toy store, he paused and shuddered at the memory. Distracted Kakashi passed in front of a dress shop, and froze, backtracked until he was standing in front of the door and stared at the door with a thoughtful look on his face. He was hesitant to go into such a store, but he'd tried every other shop he could think of with no luck, and this shop might have bells so with a defeated sigh Kakashi went into the dress shop.

.

Genma was trying to get relaxed after his last mission. The mission was supposed to be easy, but in missions there are always surprises, and this missions surprise was a very deadly one. So, now that Genma was safely back in Konoha he couldn't wait to get a hot meal and a good drink. He was on his way to Dingo's Dangos when he literally ran into Kakashi... coming out of a dress shop. Genma blinked and then looked at the store Kakashi has come out of to make sure he hadn't been seeing things before. On seeing that the store was indeed a dress shop Genma turned surprised eyes to Kakashi, "Hey Kakashi? I _really _hope this isn't prying or anything but,why were you in a dress shop?"

Kakashi looked at Genma then shrugged, "I was looking for bells."

Genma's face took on a look of horror as he pictured what kind of outfit Kakashi could be looking for with bells from a _women's dress shop. _Genma suddenly wished he were back on his last mission, this was way more information then he'd ever wanted to know about his respected superior. Genma decided that for the sake of his sanity he'd better get away from Kakashi. So, with a hurried farewell to Kakashi he took off towards Higurashi's; forget the food he'd skip right to the now very much needed drink.

.

Kakashi watched as Genma hurried off down the road, while he'd admit he was a bit embarrassed to be seen coming out of a dress shop, it seemed Genma had really over reacted to the whole thing. Kakashi sighed the embarrassment hadn't even meant any thing because the dress shop was sold out of bells. 'Who would have thought bells would be so hard to come by in Konoha?' Kakashi thought. Kakashi decided to do the bell test with something else since bells seemed to be unavailable and headed toward Durniks, if he had to use something besides bells he might as well restock on his weapons.

.

Durniks was a nice store, if fact the majority of Konoha shinobi would say that going to Durniks made them happy. But, Kakashi was not happy, in fact, he felt the strangest urge to cry. For in front of him of Durniks new items display rack were bells that were just like his old ones. As Kakashi stared at the bells only one thought went through his mind, 'What kind of shinobi would wear _bells_!' Kakashi was going to kill Kiiroi the next time he saw him, but for now he was setting a new record for how late he could be. So, after getting the bells Kakashi hurried toward where his team was waiting for him.

.

Sasuke was staring at the clouds and cursing fate for the loud little worm of a girl that had been placed on his team. Ino had been ranting for the past half hour about their tardy sensei and Sasuke was extremely tempted to strangle her so that she would _shut up._

Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts by a swirl of leaves appearing in front of him and the other two genin. When the leaves had settled he saw Kakashi standing there rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner as he said, "Sorry I'm late, but..."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Shikamaru lay staring at the sunset as he waited for his teammates and Sensei to show up for their 20:00 hour meeting. It was 19:50 now so they all should be here soon. Shikamaru sighed as his thoughts turned to yesterday and what he had learned about Naruto. Who would have thought that Naruto had such an amazingly useful ability as shape shifting. Shikamaru was a bit ashamed of the fact that after three years of watching Naruto perform henge, he had never noticed anything strange. That meant he'd have to work on his observational skills. What a drag. Still if Sensei knew about Naruto's ability to shape shift then team ten's focus on information gathering started to make more sense. But if Sensei just wanted a shape shifter, what purpose did he and Sakura have on the team? Shikamaru was brought out of his thoughts as Sakura slumped dejectedly into the training ground. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, what was wrong with Sakura? Meh, too troublesome to ask. As Sakura fell heavily down next to him Naruto came bounding into the clearing proudly jingling the bells that he'd tricked Kakashi-sensei into giving him. After an unnecessarily loud greeting Naruto plopped himself down in front of Shikamaru and Sakura. After a minute Naruto noticed how dejected Sakura looked and asked, "Hey, why do you look so sad Sakura-chan? You should be happy! we're about to become genin!"

Sakura wanted to hit Naruto, but just didn't have the energy for it. So, with a weak glare at Naruto she decided to answer, "Sasuke-kun called me a pathetic, stupid fan-girl." At remembering what Sasuke had said to her, Sakura's lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears.

Shikamaru groaned, "Mendoi, you're not gonna cry are you? Tears are Mendokusai(stink of trouble)."

That set Sakura off and she started wailing. Naruto, seeing how distraught Sakura was, jumped to his feet with an angry look on his face, "Where is Sasuke-muko(muko is similar to screw you)! I'll rip him to shreds!"

Sakura's tears dried in record time as she jumped to her feet a whacked Naruto over the head, "You won't touch Sasuke-kun! He didn't mean what he said to me. He's just having a hard day!"

Naruto snorted and mockingly said, "Having a hard day? What the heck does that even mean!"

Sakura glared at Naruto, "He did! I got up at 0530 so I could watch his test and I saw first hand how awful his sensei is. That baka Kakashi-sensei was 5 hours late and _then_ gave some totally lame excuse about having to find a new test prop because his usual ones were stolen, and after all that he gave a totally unfair test about teamwork."

Naruto gave Sakura a blank look, "That's it? That's what was so hard? I already knew everything about the test. I bribed it out of Kakashi while I was trying to get the bells, and as for Kakashi being late he's always late, usually not by five hours, but since I took his bells he'd need to go find 2 more so it's not all that surprising."

Sakura just stood there and stared at Naruto while her face got redder and redder, "It's your fault Naruto! If you'd told me about the test I could have told Sasuke-kun and then he would have gone out on a date with me, and you're the reason Kakashi-sensei was so late! I'm gonna kill you Naruto!"

Naruto knew that if he let Sakura catch him he'd be in a world of pain. So, like any sensible person he ran and Sakura chased him. While Shikamaru internally bemoaned his fate and watched the sunset while trying to ignore his troublesome teammates.

It was into this scene that Ibiki appeared. After staring at his three crazy genin he cleared his throat, "Judging by what's going on I'd say you failed the test and it's Naruto's fault."

All three genin stared at him for a moment before an angry Naruto pulled out the bells and shouted, "We did not fail sensei! See! And even if we did fail it wouldn't be my fault!"

Ibiki calmly walked over to Naruto and took the bells from his hand, "These are the bells." Ibiki looked up at the three genin, "Sit down in front of me and then tell me how you got the bells."

After the three genin had sat down Naruto told Ibiki all about how he'd managed to get the bells. By the end of the story Ibiki was frowning heavily, "Shikamaru! Sakura!" The two genin sat straighter and focused all their attention on their sensei as he continued speaking, "Did you two do anything to aid in the retrieval of the bells?"

Shikamaru and Sakura looked at each other and then at Ibiki both trying to think of something to say that wouldn't get them in trouble. Finally it was Sakura who spoke, "No sensei. But Naruto didn't give us a chance to help."

Ibiki turned his glare on Naruto, "Then Naruto why did you feel a need to do this assignment without the help of your teammates? Do you think you're better than them and can do everything on your own?"

Naruto wanted to gulp, but he had the feeling that if he showed any weakness to this guy he'd regret it. So, he straightened his spine and prepared to defend his actions, "I know that I'm better then my teammates in some ways, and I'm worse than them in other ways. I did'nt intentionally leave them out. As I said before, as a team we decided I would be the best to gather information about Kakashi as I had managed to pass under his radar before. In process of gathering that info the perfect opportunity came up to take the bells; so I took them."

Ibiki's glare did not lessen with Naruto's explanation, "This was supposed to be a team test!"

Ibiki opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by Shikamaru, "Actually Sensei, your exact words were ' you'll only succeed in this test if you do it as a team'. You didn't order us to work as a team and therefore we were not breaking orders by not doing it as a team."

Ibiki stared at Shikamaru for a moment then swung his glare to Sakura, "Pinky you have anything to add in defense of your over-confident blond teammate?"

Sakura wished the ground could swallow her up, just to get her away from her scary sensei's gaze, but she still nervously said, "I-.I s-ss-sta-and bb-by my teammates. W-we weren't disobeying orders."

Ibiki stared at all three genin for a moment then smiled, it wasn't a particularly nice smile, but it was better than his scowl. So, all three genin relaxed, if only a little. Then Ibiki spoke, "You did not take the test like I wanted you to, but you still completed your objective without disobeying orders, and you all showed that you can stand by your teammates under pressure. Therefore, you pass. You will meet me tomorrow outside of the ANBU HQ at 0600. Be late and you'll be punished." After seeing the genin gulp at his threat Ibiki smirked and disappeared with a shushin.

.

.

Once their sensei was gone the three genin visibly relaxed. Then Shikamaru sighed, "Mendoi, what have we gotten into? I can already tell Sensei is evil."

Naruto was smiling brightly, "Who cares? We're all genin now!"

Sakura whimpered, "I think I'd rather be a civilian. I don't think there could be anyone scarier then our sensei."

Shikamaru stood up, "We should all go home and get a good rest. I think tomorrow's gonna be the start of a never-ending nightmare. Oh, and lets meet here tomorrow at 0530 so we can find the ANBU HQ together." Sakura agreed, and soon both Sakura and Shikamaru were on their way home to sleep. Naruto was disappointed that they had left so early, But he could understand it. After all, Sensei was scary and Shikamaru was probably right about getting a lot of sleep. Even if Shikamaru was just saying that cause he was lazy. So with a sigh, Naruto also headed home. But he was shaking with excitement. No matter what Sensei threw at him he'd take it and keep going, getting stronger all the way.

.

.

Sakura yawned as she made her way to training ground 5. In her opinion Sensei must be very cruel. Doesn't he know a girl needs her beauty sleep? She made it to training ground 5 only to see that Shikamaru was already there. What was up with that kid? He was supposed to be the laziest guy in the academy but, so far, he'd always been earlier than her. She just hoped Naruto knew how to be quiet this early in the morning, or she'd make sure he never talked again. Sadly her hope was dashed minutes later as Naruto came bounding into the clearing shouting good morning to his teammates.

Sakura scowled and was about to let Naruto have it when Shikamaru groaned and said, "Naruto don't you ever run out of energy?"

Naruto paused and appeared deep in thought about Shikamaru's question, "I don't know Shikamaru, but I can't think of a time I have."

Sakura frowned and mumbled, "It figures."

While Shikamaru just sighed, "Never mind Naruto. It's too early to be thinking of such troublesome things anyway. Lets just go and find the ANBU HQ.

Naruto and Sakura nodded at Shikamaru's suggestion, and the three headed out to try and find the ANBU HQ. After 15 minutes of fruitless searching they thought that maybe they should have gotten up earlier. After 25 minutes with no success a frustrated Naruto said, "Why do we have to have a sensei that's so determined to make sure we find out everything by ourselves? Isn't he supposed to teach us _how _to find information and _then _send us on these crazy hunts!"

Sakura bonked Naruto over the head as she yelled, "Baka(idiot)! Stop ranting we've only got five minutes to find this place and your rants are only slowing us down!"

Naruto whimpered. "Well how is hitting me helping us find this place? What if you hit me so hard I wound up in a coma and you had to take me to the hospital? Then we'd _really _be late."

Sakura snorted, "I'd leave you on the street and go find the ANBU HQ without you. You're not worth ticking off our scary sensei for."

Naruto looked shocked and hurt. Shikamaru was about to step in and help Naruto when he turned away, "You guys stay here, I'll go find out where the ANBU HQ is." They waited there for 5 minutes and then Naruto came back, "I know where it is now. It's about 10 minutes from here."

Shikamaru was curious, "How did you find out where it was?"

Naruto shrugged, "I transformed into an average looking chunin and asked people until someone knew."

Sakura took another swipe at Naruto, "Dabo(Complete idiot)! Why didn't you do that in the first place! Now we're gonna be punished for being 10 minutes late!"

Naruto shrank back a bit, "Well Sensei was really mad when I did all the work for the test; so I thought it would be better if we worked together as a team today."

Shikamaru hurried to speak before Sakura could heap more abuse on their blond teammate, "Talking won't get us there. Naruto. Good job finding the needed information, and thinking about ways to keep us out of trouble, but next time when we need to be bailed out do it early enough that it will matter. Then we'll only be punished for one indiscretion instead of two. For now though lead the way to the ANBU HQ."

Naruto looked a little dejected, but that expression was quickly replaced by a bright happy smile, "No problem! Follow me!" Then Naruto started to run and lead the way there. When they got there Ibiki was waiting for them with a scowl on his face, "You wanna tell me why you runts are wasting my valuable time by being late?"

Both Naruto and Shikamaru prepared to speak and explain, but Sakura spoke first. And she was still angry at Naruto so she wasn't quite as smart as she should have been. Poor girl. Sakura spoke with an angry voice, "It's all Naruto-baka's fault. He knew how to get the information the whole time, but waited until we were sure to be late before getting it."

Ibiki's scowl grew harsher as he heard Sakura's explanation, but as he looked at the other two genin he saw that Naruto had an expression on his face that seemed to be a cross between discust and anger, perhaps Naruto's "crush" on Sakura wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Ibiki filed that thought away for later as he asked Naruto, in a disturbingly calm voice, for clarification, "Naruto, how long did you wait before going to find the information on your own?"

Naruto knew he was on thin ice, but maybe by acting like the perfect soldier the ice would become thicker, with that thought in mind Naruto straightened up and said, "I waited until it was five minutes before meeting time, Sir."

Ibiki's stare was drilling holes into Naruto as he asked, "Did you try to give your teammates any suggestions on how to find the information?"

Naruto blinked in surprise, and then looked a bit sheepish, "I- No Sir. I've always had to work on my own before. The thought of giving suggestions never occurred to me."

Ibiki looked disappointed as his stare stayed on Naruto for a bit longer before moving to Sakura, "Sakura, twice now, you've succeeded in your objectives solely because of the efforts of one teammate, and through no effort of your own. Are you alright with that?"

Sakura stared at Ibiki like he was stupid for a moment before replying, "Why wouldn't I be? What else is Naruto good for but doing the grunt work. Besides I'm too pretty to be doing dirty work. It's better that Naruto does it."

Ibiki was sickened by this girls arrogance, but as he looked at Naruto he noticed that look that was a cross between discust and anger was back again for a fleeting moment before it was replaced by an adoring puppy look, "I'd do anything for you Sakura!" Ibiki watched as, for a moment, Naruto's eyebrows drew together low over his eyes, his nose wrinkled and his lip curled up in an expression of disgust. So, Naruto was lying about how much he'd do for Sakura. In fact, if Ibiki had to guess, he'd say Naruto wouldn't be willing to do anything for Sakura at all.

Ibiki thought back over what Sakura had said as he turned to Shikamaru, "Shikamaru, do you agree with your pink haired teammate?"

Shikamaru looked revolted by the idea of agreeing with Sakura, "Absolutely not. I may not be a big fan of work, but I'll pull my own weight," Shikamaru paused and looked thoughtful, "Well, mostly anyway. The only reason I didn't pull my weight today was because I didn't know how to find the information. But, if this team is supposed to be an information gathering team; it wouldn't make a lot of sense for only one of us to be capable of gathering information. So as soon as I know how, I won't leave it on Naruto's shoulders."

Ibiki gave Shikamaru a pleased smile, "Good to know one of you brats has some sense. Now, you were supposed to start your training today, but since you were late thats been postponed until tomorrow. Today you'll only have to worry about completing your punishments for being late. Naruto. Since you seem to have such trouble opening up and telling others what you're really thinking, you and I are going to have a heart to heart." Naruto gulped and looked around as if looking for an escape, "Don't even think about running Naruto. Today I'll make this discussion relatively painless, but if you avoid it and wait till tomorrow you'll learn exactly why I'm called a sadist." Naruto paled, but stood stock still, hoping his sensei wouldn't think he was trying to get out of this "talk". Ibiki looked at Sakura next, "Sakura, you seem to have a problem with getting dirty. Since that kind of attitude could get you killed, it's very important we get you over it as quickly as possible. So, you'll be cleaning every bathroom in ANBU HQ, male and female."

Sakura's eyes were wide and outraged as she shrieked, "What! You can't do that to me!"

Ibiki gave Sakura a look that could have frozen the sun, "I'm your sensei. I can make you do anything that's not illegal, and I'd stop complaining and get to work. If you don't get this assignment done today I'll make you clean these bathrooms again, _and _the ones in the Hokage tower tomorrow. So go ask the secretary to get you the supplies you'll need and get to work genin." After hearing Ibiki's threat a pale Sakura ran off to find the secretary and get to work, no matter how gross or unfair this job was.

Last Ibiki looked at Shikamaru and pulled out a book, "Well Shikamaru, since you said the reason you didn't work today was because you didn't have the proper knowledge. Your assignment is to read this book, cover to cover, by the end of today, and then I'll quiz you on some of the ideas inside. Oh, and after your done reading it return it to the Shinobi library, it's overdue." Shikamaru gave his sensei a strange look for the library comment, but then nodded and looked a little relieved that his assignment was so easy as he walked over to a shady spot underneath a tree and started to read.

Ibiki turned his attention back to Naruto who was still standing, stock still, in the exact same place. Heh, maybe Ibiki had been a bit too intimidating with the kid. Hopefully Naruto would still be able to open up a bit. Ibiki sighed and said, "All right Naruto, lets go somewhere a bit more private to have our talk, after all we don't want everyone hearing this." Naruto looked a little relieved as he nodded his agreement to the plan. After seeing the nod Ibiki turned and lead Naruto to his office.

Naruto was slightly comforted at knowing that only Sensei would learn anything about him, but as he followed Sensei down into the depths of the ANBU HQ, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. So, as the two ninja traveled along the main hallway of the lowest level of ANBU HQ, with faint pleas for mercy reaching their ears from ongoing interrogations. Naruto prayed that this experience wouldn't become fuel for his nightmares.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey all! Wow I am so amazed by the response my story is getting. Thank you to all of you! Now it's come to my attention that throwing in a bunch of unfamiliar Japanese words is detracting from the story. I apologize to all of you who were annoyed by this. There are still a few strange words I'll be using but they've all already been introduced so there will be no more explanations. The only word that hasn't been introduced yet is Kisama. This means your 'honorable' self its basically smear on ones honor and will probably get you attacked if you say it to anyone in Japan. Sasuke-kisama is the only thing Naruto will be calling Sasuke from now on. So, hopefully that should clear up some confusion. Now on with Team Psych.

Chapter 8 - Hidden Faces

Naruto was surprised when the first thing he saw upon entering Sensei's office was a desk buried in paperwork. He didn't know quite what he'd expected to find in his sensei's office, but with as scary as his sensei was, and with the downright creepy atmosphere of ANBU HQ's lowest level, he'd expected something, well, more intimidating. Naruto watched as Sensei went around his desk and sat in the chair on that side, and then gestured for Naruto to take the chair in front of his desk. Naruto nervously complied.

Naruto watched as his sensei sized him up before speaking, "Well Naruto, I only have a few questions, as soon as they're answered to my satisfaction I'll let you go. So, it would be in your best interest to answer honestly, understand?"

Naruto was not happy with Sensei's terms, he didn't see why he had to be the one baring his soul. Why couldn't Sakura have gotten this assignment? She actually liked talking. Then again his sensei only said he had to answer honestly, not that he had to answer well; maybe Naruto could get away with vaguely answering the questions. Having come to this conclusion Naruto gave a nod.

Ibiki seeing Naruto's nod proceeded, "I'm glad you understand. Now, my first question is this; you obviously are very talented, so, why do you act like an idiot?"

Naruto felt caught, no one had ever seen through him so easily, and more importantly, if Sensei could read him so easily how vague could he really be? Gulping Naruto answered, "Being a shinobi is all about deception right? I was just taking that lesson to heart."

Ibiki knew Naruto was telling the truth, well partially at least. However it seemed Naruto was being purposely unclear, and that wouldn't do. Ibiki sighed, "Naruto, I'm your sensei, and it's my job to mold you into a strong ninja. I can't do my job if you hold things back from me. Now please tell me the entire reason you act like an idiot."

Naruto frowned as he carefully searched Sensei's face. He was beginning to dislike this man. While it was apparent that Sensei was telling the truth and, for the moment anyway, just wanted Naruto to improve; Naruto had no idea why, and that made him nervous. But what was worse, this guy was as perceptive as he was, and while that was kind of cool, it was also crazy annoying. He was used to being able to get a good reading on his opponent without giving much about himself in return, and that just wouldn't work with Sensei. Still, Sensei did seem to just want to help him so, on this question anyway, he'd be more forthcoming. Naruto dejectedly looked away from his sensei's face, "I really did take the lesson on deception to heart, but, I also noticed pretty early on in my academy days that when I did well at something my teachers tended to be meaner, and were more likely to try and sabotage my knowledge. I learned it was easier to act stupid, then my teachers just ignored me, and I didn't have to worry about whether I was getting the truth or not."

Ibiki was surprised that the academy teachers would do that, but he supposed he shouldn't be. After all a lot of people hated Naruto, and most of those people would passively try to hurt him, but he didn't think Iruka was like that. So, with a confused frown Ibiki asked, "It's disappointing that your academy teachers would do that Naruto, but I didn't think Iruka was like that. Is he?"

Naruto's head jerked up to angrily meet Sensei's eyes, "No way is Iruka-sensei like that! He's always helped me. He even taught me to read!" Naruto looked surprised at what he had just confessed then he looked away from Sensei's face in shame.

Ibiki thought back over what he knew of Naruto's school career, if he remembered correctly Iruka only be came Naruto's sensei at the be beginning of this last year. That meant Naruto had been illiterate until he was eleven years old. The fact that the kid had gotten as far as he had with that kind of handicap was impressive. Ibiki made a mental note to go hunt down Naruto's previous senseis and tell them exactly whet he thought of their narrow-mindedness. For now though, Ibiki could tell that this subject was making Naruto nervous so he moved onto his second question, "All right, now, why do you pretend to like Sakura when it's quite clear that you don't?"

Naruto looked up in confusion, but he still couldn't quite get himself to look Sensei in the eye, after telling Sensei about his trouble reading this almost seemed stupid, so he figured he'd get out of there as soon as possible by just telling Sensei, "Liking Sakura is part of my idiot act. The way I see it only an idiot would like a violent screeching Sasuke-obsessed fanatic."

Ibiki quirked an eyebrow at Naruto's answer, but decided to clarify a few points, "Do you hate Sakura then Naruto?"

Naruto's surprise was great enough that he actually met his sensei's eyes for a moment before, once again looking away, "I wouldn't say I hate her exactly. Sakura's really not as bad as she makes herself seem. She doesn't mean half of what she says, and she hits everyone who ticks her off, I just seem to be really good at ticking her off, probably because of my idiot act. So no, I don't hate her, but I definitely don't like her either. I don't know if I'll ever be able to trust her "

Ibiki nodded and was impressed by the perceptiveness Naruto showed. It was good that Naruto didn't hate Sakura, it would have been very hard for them to work together as a team if he did, but still, he'd have to work on building trust between these two after Sakura has gotten over her violence issues. But for now Naruto looked like he'd had enough for today, so Ibiki started to wrap things up, "Thank you for being honest and making this easier on both of us. Now Naruto, I want you to drop your idiot mask, and if you don't like Sakura don't pretend you do." Naruto looked unsure about what Ibiki was saying so Ibiki continued to try and convince him, "I know you've used this mask for a long time Naruto, and I'm not going to ask you to drop it around everyone, yet. In fact I think this mask of yours could be useful tool, but I do want you to drop it around me and your teammates."

Naruto frowned, "What about Sakura? I _want_ her to think of me as an idiot. It makes things easier."

Ibiki sighed, "Because of the way things are between you and Sakura at the moment I won't ask you to drop your mask entirely, but I do want you to stop pretending to like her." Ibiki just looked at Naruto for a moment before continuing, "Naruto, I know you wear that mask to protect yourself, but you're not in the academy anymore. I won't treat you differently if you let your intelligence show, and if anyone else messes with you over this they'll have to answer to me. You're safe now Naruto, and you can be whoever you want to be, as long as you let your teammates know who you really are eventually."

Naruto still looked unhappy, but still slowly nodded.

Ibiki smiled at Naruto's agreement, "Good. You're free to go, but be sure to be here at 0600 tomorrow to start your training, and don't be late."

Naruto jumped to his feet, "No way will I be late. See you tomorrow Sensei!"

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Shikamaru was surprised at how easy his punishment seemed to be. The book he had to read was a book on the basics of infiltration and information gathering, and he thought it was very interesting. Hopefully with time he would be able to use this information properly.

"Wow Shikamaru I thought you'd be asleep or something, but instead you're so into that book you didn't even notice me."

Shikamaru jerked his head up in surprise, and then sighed when he saw Naruto standing over him, "This book _is_ interesting Naruto, it's all about the basic ways you can use to infiltrate somewhere."

Naruto's face brightened into a smile as he looked at the book, "Cool! Maybe Ibiki-sensei will let me borrow it when you're through."

"This book belongs to the Shinobi Library and I'm supposed to return it after I'm done," Shikamaru replied, "and you probably already know everything in it, it's all pretty basic."

Naruto looked a bit dis appointed, "Really? Dang it would be cool to learn more." Then Naruto's face brightened as he remembered something, "Hey! I'm on my way to find everything I can about Ibiki-sensei, especially after he let it slip that he's called a sadist. Maybe after you finish your book we can get together and talk about what I learn, and you could always use the things from that book to see what you can find out on your own."

Shikamaru's face took on a thoughtful look, "I think it would be a good idea to find out what we can about him. The more we know about him the more power we'll have. After I finish my punishment I'll go look for info on Ibiki-sensei too. How about we get together at 20:00 hrs tonight, and swap information."

Naruto smiled, "Great! Then I better get going so I can have lots to share."

Shikamaru watched Naruto turn to head away when something occurred to him, "Hey Naruto wait! We should invite Sakura so she'll have the info too."

Naruto had paused when Shikamaru told him to wait, but he stiffened when He heard Shikamaru's suggestion, "No don't invite her. You can tell her later if you want, but I really don't want to see her unless I have to." Naruto relaxed a bit, turned his face back toward Shikamaru and smiled, "See yah tonight at 20:00." With that Naruto took off to find-out what he could on Ibiki-sensei.

Shikamaru watched him go. He would admit to being surprised that Naruto wanted to leave his crush out of their meeting, but then, Shikamaru kind of couldn't blame him. Sakura was being crueler than usual lately, and while Naruto wasn't the only one being attacked by Sakura, he was still the main target. Shikamaru sighed. If Naruto wanted to leave Sakura out of the meeting then that meant that he, Shikamaru, would have to tell Sakura later, "Great", Shikamaru mumbled under his breath, "More work". After allowing himself another moment of self pity Shikamaru went back to reading, after all he had to have the book read by the end of today, sooner if he wanted to find out info on sensei and share it with Naruto.

Shikamaru was so engrossed in his reading that he didn't see Ibiki, who had been spying on him since Naruto came out. Ibiki smiled, Naruto and Shikamaru were certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with by the time he was through with them. He only hoped Sakura could keep up. Ibiki frowned at the thought of Sakura. Naruto seemed to have taken his words to heart, which was good, but with Naruto really not liking Sakura it made teamwork more difficult. That was something Ibiki would have to work on. Ibiki pulled himself out of his thoughts to check on Shikamaru's progress, not even a third of the way through, good he still had time to take care of some of that blasted paperwork.

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Sakura wanted to retch. This bathroom was nasty, how could ANBU be this dirty? She was gonna kill Sensei for giving her such a nasty job. 'Stupid Sensei giving me this awful job. Man, he shouldn't be allowed to order me to do work like this, it's gotta be against all sorts of child labor laws.' At that thought Sakura paused in her cleaning as she continued her thoughts, 'Yeah making me do a job like this has got to be against child labor laws. Which means if I tell the Hokage about this Sensei will be in major trouble. Ha! Take that Sensei! Your days as a free man are numbered. As soon as I finish this job Sensei is going down.' With the inspiration of taking down her awful Sensei Sakura was able to work faster, and get out of there in surprisingly good time.

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"I'm sorry genin, but Hokage-sama is too busy to just let you walk in. I'm afraid that if you want to see him you'll need to make an appointment." Said the secretary.

Sakura couldn't believe this secretary. What she had to tell the Hokage was important, but still she was a loyal ninja so she would go through official channels, "Ok I'll make an appointment then, when's the earliest one you have?"

The secretary gave an apologetic smile to Sakura, "The earliest appointment available is two weeks from now on a friday. We do occasionally have cancellations at which point you could go in earlier, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for that, there are a lot of people ahead of you on that list as well."

Sakura's smile was frozen on her face, even though inside she wanted to scream, Two weeks! Screw official channels, there had to be another way in! Just as Sakura was about to get into some crazy plans for breaking into Hokage-sama's office she heard a familiar voice shout, "Hey Mina-nee! Is Jiji in a meeting right now, or does he have a bit of time to talk?" Sakura turned to see Naruto behind her, and he was apparently talking to the secretary as, with an affectionate smile, she answered, "No he's just working on paperwork Naruto-kun. Feel free to go right on up."

Sakura couldn't believe it. She had to wait two weeks to get in to see Hokage-sama, but Naruto could just walk in whenever he wanted! That made Sakura pause, if Naruto could go see the Hokage whenever he wanted all she had to do was get him to take her in, and that should be easy after all everyone knew Naruto had a crush on her, with a little flirting she should get right in. Flirting with Naruto shouldn't be too bad. Well, he was horribly ill-mannered, and that made Sakura want to hit him, but he really was sweet, so flirting with him shouldn't be too bad as long as he didn't get worse with the whole asking her on a date thing. So, filled with confidence in her success she ran after Naruto while calling to him to wait up.

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Naruto was in a bit of a bad mood. He'd just spent all day learning everything he could about Ibiki-sensei, and he was worried about what he'd found out. How could Jiji put him with a T&I specialist, and according to every ninja he'd talked to, Ibiki-sensei was freaking scary. No. This was crazy, and Naruto needed to ask Jiji why he thought it was a good idea to give a man like that a genin team. So, after greeting Mina-nee and making sure Jiji wasn't in a meeting, or something, Naruto started to make his way up to Jiji's office. He hadn't even made to the first set of stairs when he heard someone call his name. When he turned around though, he grimaced. The last person he wanted to see right now was Sakura. He was already stressed with the whole sensei being a heartless sadist thing, he didn't need Sakura hitting him and demeaning him right now. Still she didn't look angry, and he was a bit curious about why she'd called out to him, so he waved to her and then waited until she was in speaking distance to ask, "What's up Sakura?"

Sakura gave Naruto a shy smile with her hands clasped in front of her in a cute way. "Well I was wondering if you could help me Naruto?"

Naruto was instantly suspicious, Saukra's current cute posture combined with asking for help couldn't mean anything good for him. So with wary eyes he asked, "What do you need help with Sakura?"

Sakura gave a cute little pout as she replied, "Well, as I was cleaning the Bathroom earlier I realized the Sensei making me do the bathrooms in ANBU HQ was against child labor laws, and I thinks it's horrible that someone who so easily exploits a child's trust is allowed to walk freely, so I want to tell Hokage-sama about this so our awful sensei is taken somewhere that he can't take advantage of kids like us." Sakura bit her lip, and looked down as tears seemed to gather in her eyes, "But I wasn't able to make it into see Hokage-sama because I'm not important enough." Now Sakura raised hear eyes to meet Naruto's as she took a step forward with a wondering look on her face, "But, you are Naruto. You're important enough to see Hokage-sama whenever you want, would you be willing to help me see Hokage-sama? Would you be willing to save me?"

Naruto just stared at Sakura for a minute, he had admit that he was impressed by Sakura's acting skills. If he hadn't known that Sakura wasn't really like that he might have been tricked by her cute damsel in distress act, but he did know her, and her reason for seeing Jiji was stupid. Still he glanced around to see if anyone was near by that he needed to pretend in front of but as he looked, he remembered Ibiki-sensei's words about how sensei would make sure no-one messed with him, and as scary as sensei was he might just succeed. So, as he looked at Sakura's face he decided it was time to stop pretending he liked her, "You want to waste Hokage-jiji's time with something that's not even real? The minute you got your hitie-ate you became an adult, so child labor laws no longer apply, I'll give you props for your manipulation skills, but grow up Sakura, and find someone else to use." With that said Naruto continued on his way to Jiji's office. As he walked he smiled. That had felt good. He still wanted to know why Jiji had put three raw genin with a sadist, but, maybe being Ibiki-sensei's student wouldn't be so bad.

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Sakura watched as Naruto walked away with tears in her eyes. Grow up? Did _Naruto_ think she was immature? And if Naruto of all people thought was immature what did others think? As she watched Naruto walk away from her she felt a little sad. Naruto had always been chasing her, but it seemed like she had finally managed to push Naruto away. As she looked back on what she had just done she started to feel guilty, she had just flirted with Naruto in order to use him, and if he had fallen for it she wouldn't have felt any guilt at all And would have gone right back to treating him as she always had. Was she really that cruel? Sakura got a determined look on her face as she decided that the rest of the day was going to be spent asking everyone she knew what they thought of her. She wanted to know if everyone thought of her the way Naruto seemed to. With that Sakura marched off to start her self given mission.

By the end of the day she would regret ever taking this mission on.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey all! Sorry for the late update, but I swear the universe was conspiring against me updating today. Never-the-less it is, at long last, here.

Chapter 9 - New Sensei's

It was early and the sun was just beginning to rise over the sleepy, peaceful, Konoha. But in one house things were far from peaceful. Sakura stomped around the room getting ready for the day while a slow rage built up inside of her. She couldn't believe the things people thought about her. Even the people she called her friends thought she was a monster. Well, screw them! If any of them talked to her like that again she'd beat them into a pulp. Sakura paused in her angry movements as she thought of her conversation with Ino. She had been so desperate to hear that someone thought well of her that she had even visited her rival, but Ino's comments were some of the worst. Ino thought she was awful, and Ino was glad when their friendship had ended because she no longer had to deal with an over-aggressive witch. Thinking of Ino's words brought all of Sakura's anger beck to the surface, and she wished she could punch something. But even as Sakura wrapped her anger around herself like a protective cloak; she couldn't hide from the pain she felt at what those closest to her thought of her, nor could she hide the guilt she felt at the way she apparently treated everyone around her.

Sakura was contemplating how much trouble she'd get into if she smashed a few things in her room when she was distracted by a tapping on her window. When she looked outside she saw a messenger pigeon and went to get the message. When she opened the message she saw that it was from Sensei. It read:

Haruno, good job on completing your punishment in the bathrooms yesterday. Now, I'm far too busy with interrogations to get you to the point that you're worth training. This is because you've got anger management problems, and are patheticly weak. So, I've assigned you a stand in sensei until you're stronger. You will meet your sensei at Dingo's Dangos, she will be the one snarfing down dangos like the world is ending. You have one hour to find her and report. If you are not on time you will report to me for punishment; if that happens, what happened yesterday will seem like an act of mercy.

Signed, Ibiki-sensei

Sakura spent a moment staring at the letter in disbelief. That was it? She wasn't worthy of her new sensei's attention so now she was being pawned off to someone else! Oh, she'd see about that! She'd go to Dingo's Dangos all right and make things so horrible for her new sensei that they'd quit. Then Sensei would have to pay attention to her! With a plan intact Sakura marched off to meet this soon to be un-sensei.

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Shikamaru's morning was going well. His mendoi mother was out of town so the house was nice and quiet, and he didn't have to be to the ANBU HQ for another hour. Yeah life was good. Before Shikamaru could get really relaxed though he saw a messenger bird land on his window and start tapping for attention. Shikamaru groaned at having to get up and went to get the message. When he opened it he saw it was from Ibiki-sensei, 'Dang, can't ignore it then.' Shikamaru thought as he started to read the message.

Nara, well done with learning about different information gathering strategies. I was impressed by how quickly you're able to learn. Unfortunately I don't have the time to train you up to the level necessary for T&I work. You see, you are lazy and in poor shape. Therefore, you'll be training with an interim sensei. You will meet your sensei in training field 12. You have an hour to get there. _Don't_ be late.

Signed, Ibiki-sensei

Shikamaru read through the message one more time then sighed, "Mendoi, there goes the rest of my morning relaxation time." With another sigh Shikamaru started on his way to meet his new sensei.

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Naruto was heaving a wonderful dream about being the awesomest ninja in Konoha and everyone was cheering for him, even the civilians who hated him. Jiji was just about to award him for his awesomeness by giving him the hokage hat when Naruto heard a quiet tapping sound. Naruto looked around, trying to find the source of the strange sound. The next time he heard it the sound was a little louder, but the cheering crowds were getting quieter. He was pondering on why the crowds would get quieter when Jiji tapped him on the shoulder. When Naruto looked over at his Jiji, Naruto saw him open his mouth, "Tap,tap,tap."

Naruto startled out of his dream, 'Whoa talk about weird.' Naruto was about to get up and start getting ready when he heard the tapping sound again. He froze, 'Am I still dreaming?' He wondered as he looked around to try and find the source of the tapping. He heard the tapping one more time and was finally able to spot the messenger bird sitting on his windowsill. "Sorry about that little guy." Naruto said as he retrieved the message. As soon as he had the message the bird flew away, and Naruto watched it fly for a bit with a smile on his face. Then he turned his attention to the message.

Uzumaki, You've proven to be a very interesting person. However, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to take you on as a student just yet. I am very busy with the T&I department, and you have some flaws, namely your failure to think ahead in battle, that need to be gotten rid of before I can start seriously training you. To help you overcome those flaws, I've found you a temporary sensei who you'll meet at Yamanaka flower shop. You have one hour to be there. If you can't show up on time, be early.

Signed, Ibiki-sensei

Naruto frowned. He thought that the whole point of Ibiki-sensei taking them on so young was to train them in T&I quickly so there wouldn't be such a strain on the current T&I staff. Ah well, Naruto thought that sensei would know best in these matters so he headed off for the Yamanaka flower shop. He wondered who his sensei could be? Probably a girl if they wanted to meet at a flower shop.

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Sakura was marching through the streets with a purpose. She was almost to Dingo's Dangos and she was so ready to lose this fake sensei. As Sakura arrived at the dango stand she looked around for someone like her sensei had described, and in the far corner of the stand Sakura saw a woman scarfing down dango like it was going out of style. Oh yeah, that was definitely the soon to be ex-sensei. Sakura stomped her way over to the imposter and as she was almost there, the fake sensei raised her eyes and gave Sakura a leer, "You must be the brat Ibiki gave me. I'm Anko and boy am I gonna have fun with you."

Sakura with all the anger she had at being tossed aside by her real sensei, "I don't care who you are, 'cause your not really my sensei, and I'll never be your student!"

Anko gave Sakura a look of disbelief, "You stupid? I'm your sensei until Ibiki says I'm not."

Sakura shook her head, "No! I refuse to be tossed aside by my real sensei to be taught by you!"

Anko shook her head, "So you are stupid. Listen brat I'm your sensei until Ibiki has time to deal with you. Besides, it's not like it's weird for sensei to pawn their students off onto other jonin. Happens all the time, and you'll like having me as a sensei. So relax, sit down and order yourself a plate of dango, and we'll talk about what your going to be learning."

Sakura glared at Anko, she wasn't gonna be tossed aside without a fight! Sakura looked at the plate of dango Anko was still happily eating from, and made her decision. With a swipe of her hand she sent Anko's plate shattering to the floor, while Anko's dango flew everywhere. Anko gave Sakura a glare that could have burned ice, "You shouldn't have done that girlie. I wanted to be your friend, but by attacking my dango you've attacked me. And those who me are enemies." With that Anko grabbed Sakura and they both disappeared in a shushin.

It took Sakura a moment to reorient herself when they reappeared. As she regained her senses she realized that they were in a training field, but before she had a chance to wonder why they were there, she heard Anko shout, "Kuchoise no jutsu!" Sakura whipped around to see Anko petting a snake that was longer than she was tall. Sakura shuddered. Anko smiled when she saw Sakura's reaction to her summon and said, "Beautiful ain't she? This is Mishiko a King Cobra, she's one of the most poisonous types of snake in the world, and she's your new training buddy."

Sakura paled when she heard Anko say that and asked, "M-my training buddy?"

Anko's smile grew malicious, "That's right girlie. Every time you tick me off you'll go on a run, and Mishiko here will be right behind you. Ready to bite you with her poisonous fangs if you slow down or stop."

Sakura gulped and started shaking in fear, "But the snakes poisonous, if it bites me won't I die?"

Anko frowned, "First of all Mishiko's not an 'it' she's a she. Secondly, this is your first lesson; when you attack someone they'll probably attack back, and my case that means you get to run. Oh, and just so you know when Mishiko bites you she won't inject enough venom into you to kill you, but she will inject enough to make you wish were dead. Now start running!"

Sakura stood frozen in shock at what Anko had just said, until she saw the snake start moving towards her. Sakura shrieked and took off running with the gigantic snake right behind her. As Sakura ran only one thought went through her panicked brain, 'I've got the worst sensei ever!'

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Shikamaru was almost to training ground 12 when he heard shouting. He paused and listened more closely to see if it was necessary for him to do something. After 30 seconds of listening he concluded that the yelling was neither from anger nor pain. So, he ignored it and casually continued on his way.

A few minutes later Shikamaru walked into training ground 12, but before he had gotten more than a few steps in, Shikamaru froze. For there in front of him was a very... odd sight. A grown man in a bright green full body spandex suit, a bowl haircut, thick fuzzy eyebrows, and a teenager that looked like his mini-clone.

The two beings were doing one-handed pushups and shouting outrageous promises at each other. As Shikamaru watched this strange sight only one thought went through his head, 'Please don't let this man be my interim sensei.' Before Shikamaru had a chance to deepen his pleas, the man he'd been trying to block out of his mind appeared in front of him, "Good morning young lad!", the _very _disturbing man shouted, "You must be Shikamaru. I am Maito Gai, your new sensei. Ibiki-san has told me that your youthfulness is waning, but do not fear my young student! For I, Maito Gai, will bring you back to the full springtime of your youth by the time I'm done with you, and if I cannot do that I will run to Suna(hidden village of sand) and back on my toes!"

Shikamaru twitched at the assault his mind had just taken then sighed, only one thought went through his mind, 'Mendoi'.

Shikamaru used all the strategy training his father had already given him to try and come up with a way out of training with this clearly insane man. When he couldn't think of a way out; Shikamaru, for the first time in his life, wished that he had worked harder on his father's lessons.

Before Shikamaru's failed strategies could send him into a panic attack, he was pulled from his thoughts by a mini-Gai-sensei clone appearing beside the original and shouting, "Who is this Gai-sensei!"

Shikamaru twitched and Gai-sensei looked appalled, "Oh Lee! My beautiful student forgive me. I was so overcome with joy at a new youthful student, I forgot to introduce my own." Gai turned to look at Shikamaru while pointing back at Lee, "This is my youthful student Lee, the Beautiful Blue Beast of Konoha!" At hearing Lee's nick name Shikamaru once again twitched, "And these two are the youthful Neji and Tenten!" As Gai-sensei finished his introductions, Shikamaru noticed the two, quieter, genin that were there.

As he looked at the two genin, Shikamaru was surprised at how normal they seemed after meeting their loud sensei and teammate. There was a boy with long brown hair and pale pupilless eyes, and a girl with her brown hair up in two buns atop her head. Shikamaru desperately hoped these two acted as normally as they looked.

The lazy Nara was pulled from his thoughts as Gai-sensei shouted, "Yosh! To commemorate the temporary addition of Shikamaru to our team, let us go on a 10 mile warm-up run around Konoha!"

Shikamaru stared at Gai-sensei in disbelief as the thought, 'A 10 mile run as a _warm-up_!' ran through his head. At that moment Shikamaru knew Ibiki-sensei truly deserved the title 'The Sadist'. For only a truly sick man would willingly throw their student into the malicious grasp of such an evil man as Gai-sensei.

As Shikamaru began his 10 mile "warm-up' run, he knew that there could be no worse sensei than his. Both the temporary and the permanent.

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Naruto stood outside the Yamanaka flower shop, filled with excitement. For somewhere inside that shop was the person who was going to help him become even stronger. The blond boy slowly opened the door to the shop while wondering what his temporary sensei was like. However, disappointment met Naruto as he opened the door to see... no-one. The only person in the shop was a tall man with his long blond hair tied up in a high pony-tail, he was standing behind the cashiers counter studying something on the counter. The jingling of the bell over the door caused the man to look up, and when he saw Naruto, he smiled, "You must be Naruto I'm Yamanaka, Inoichi, your temporary sensei."

Naruto stared at Inoichi, "Really? I thought my sensei was gonna be a girl."

Inoichi's eyebrow twitched when he herd Naruto's comment but, he just sighed and let his shoulders slump, "While I can see why you made that assumption, what with being told to meet me in a flower shop, I would ask that you refrain from making anymore digs at my masculinity. Whether intentionally or otherwise."

The whiskered genin had a sheepish smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head and gave a nervous laugh, "Hehe, sorry about that."

The jonin sighed and shook his head, "It's fine. Now, lets go begin your training." With that Inoichi called to his wife that he was leaving and then headed for the Yamanaka training grounds with Naruto following behind him thinking, 'This sensei's not so bad.'

.

.

**TWO WEEKS LATER**

Shikamaru sighed as Gai-sensei and Lee once again hugged each other in front of the sunset genjutsu of death. As he watched the horrifying spectacle, the lazy genius couldn't help but wonder if there could be a way to re-tool this scene for use in T&I work.

Shikamaru was pulled out of his thoughts as Tenten came up behind him and said, "That sight never ceases to freak me out. Please say that in the 2 weeks you've been with us your brilliant mind has figured out a way to stop this scene from ever happening again?"

The young Nara turned his face to the weapons mistress and, with an utterly serious face, nodded, "I think I've thought of a way, but we'll need Neji to pull it off."

Tenten gave a curt nod, "Good, I'll go get him." With that Tenten hurried off to find Neji.

The lazy genius watched as the bun haired girl went up to Neji and tried to get him to come over. At first Neji seemed reluctant, but with a bit more coaxing the Jyuuken specialist followed Tenten over. With a frown Neji said, "This had better not waste my time."

Shikamaru shrugged, "That depends on your point of view. But I think it's worth it to cure Gai-sensei of his insanity. Don't you?"

Neji was still frowning, but he gave a reluctant nod. Upon seeing the nod Shikamaru smiled and started describing his plan to Neji and Tenten. They were still discussing the plan 10 minutes later when Gai-sensei called the team back together. Shikamaru looked at his 2 partners in crime as they started heading over to Gai-sensei and said, "We'll meet together later tonight to finish the planning and do the plan."

Gai smiled when he heard his temporary pupil say that. Although he didn't know what the plan that they were talking about was, it could only be a good sign that Shikamaru was exerting more effort. So, with the inspiration of Shikamaru's growth fueling him on Gai detailed what training exercise his precious students would be doing next.

Omake

Maito Gai was not a man to be easily surprised, but when he woke-up with no idea of where he was and found himself in a nice button-down shirt, and a pair of slacks, all while being tied to a chair; he was indeed surprised.

Before Gai had a chance to get a good look at the room he was imprisoned in, the lights dimmed until only the faintest of silhouettes could be seen. After the lights had finished dimming, Gai could see the barely perceptible outline of a person in front of him. This being seemed to be fairly short, and the only thing that really stood out about them was the contour of their hair which, oddly, resembled a pineapple.

Gai was pulled away from his study by a hand on each side of his face forcing him to look at a red dot. At first the red dot was just there, but after a moment the dot started to blink on and off. Gai became mesmerized by the dot and stared at it with a feeling of happy contentment. Awhile later a voice started speaking as if from a great distance. Gai wasn't really listening to the voice, the light was too intriguing, but in the back of his head he heard what the voice was saying, "You do not like spandex; you like calm muted colors, and generic clothes items. You will be calm and quiet. You will enjoy work, but even more you will enjoy relaxing. You will enjoy friendly competition with comrades, but you will enjoy solitude more." Over and over the voice repeated these words while Gai stared at the mesmerizing light. Time passed, how much Gai wasn't sure, but in time the voice faded into silence, and the light blinked its final time before fading away. As the light faded into blackness Gai could feel his consciousness fading with it.

.

Gai woke to the suns rays hitting his face and gave a peaceful smile at the suns beauty. Although he couldn't quite remember what happened to him he felt at peace. As Gai began getting ready for the day he was horrified to find that the majority of his closet was filled with green spandex. Fortunately he was able to find one standard jonin uniform. After team training Gai resolved to go and get more appropriate outfits. Still, Gai couldn't help but wonder why he had such atrocious outfits in his closet. However, upon noticing the time he decided to ponder on this later so that he wouldn't be late to team training.

.

Gai was walking toward his teams training grounds when he came across Kakashi; Gai greeted his friend with a peaceful smile and a calm voice, "Ah, Kakashi, how are you doing today?"

Kakashi gave Gai a strange look, "I'm doing fine. But, are you feeling alright Gai?"

Gai gave a quiet laugh, "I feel perfectly fine Kakashi. Why do you ask?"

It was hard to tell, but if you looked closely you could see that Kakashi's one visible eye was widened, and he had a disturbed look on his face, "You're just abnormally calm Gai. Are you sure you're alright?"

Gai didn't understand why Kakashi was so disturbed by his calmness, it worried him. But, as Gai looked at the time he realized he would be late to team training if he didn't hurry. So, he once again pushed aside his worries in favor of being on time. This decided Gai turned back to Kakashi, "I assure you I'm fine Kakashi, but I'm afraid I must hurry or I'll be late to my team's meeting. I'll see you later Kakashi." With that Gai walked away, leaving a very freaked out Kakashi behind him.

.

When Gai made it to his teams training ground he saw that Neji and Tenten were already there and they were looking at him intently. Although hr found their looks odd he calmly greeted them, and watched as their intent looks morphed into looks of satisfaction. He found this very odd, but he didn't have a chance to wonder what was going on with his students before he was accosted by a bright green hyper active Lee, "Good morning Gai-sensei!", Lee went to give Gai-sensei his daily hug of greeting, but Gai-sensei stopped him. Confused, Lee pulled back back and looked at Gai-sensei more closely. After getting a good look at Gai-sensei, he was shocked. His sensei looked like all the boring unyouthful jonin in the village. Lee gave Gai-sensei a worried look, "What is the matter Sensei? What makes you wear such unyouthful colors?"

Gai looked at Lee as if he was seeing him for the first time, "What do you speak of Lee? I enjoy the calming colors on these clothes."

Lee's face took on a look of horror and shock, "Oh no Gai-sensei! The fire of your youthfulness has been dimmed. Quickly! We must go on a 50 mile run around Konoha so that you may regain your youth!"

Gai just stood there and stared at Lee with a blank look on his face, but then, as if someone had flipped a switch, Gai's entire demeanor changed. Gai's feet spread to hip-width apart, one of his hands was on his hip and the other was stretched in front of him in a thumbs-up position, and a sparkling smile lit up his face. In an exuberant voice Gai said, "Yosh! You are correct Lee, we must run to enflame the fires of Youth!"

With that Gai tore off the jonin uniform revealing his bright green jumpsuit beneath it, and took of running with Lee, leaving two horrified genin in their wake. Neji put his head in his hands creating a look of utter hopelessness, and Tenten, with a venomous glare at Lee's disappearing back grumbled, "I knew we forgot something."


	10. Chapter 10

Hey all, I BROKE A HUNDERED REVIEWS! WOOOHOOO. Thank you to all who made this possible. Now, I want to warn you that this chapter has a rather... startling ending. But please just give this story a chance through chapter 11.

Chapter 10

**TWO WEEKS AFTER FIRST MEETING THE TEMPORARY SENSEI**

Sakura snuck through the streets of Konoha keeping a nervous eye out for her psycho sensei Anko. It seemed that every time Anko-sensei found her trying to spy on Sasuke-kun, Sakura had to do even harsher training. But it had been a full week since she had seen her Sasuke-kun, and she needed her Sasuke fix. So, harsher training or not, Sakura would just have to risk it. Besides, it wasn't like Anko-sensei could be everywhere, right? Sakura was almost to the Uchiha compound, just a few more blocks and she'd be able to see her Sasuke-kun again. She grew even more tense and focused, now that she was almost there she absolutely couldn't get caught!

Sakura had succeeded! For there in front of her was her beloved Sasuke-kun and there was no Anko-sensei around. She joyfully watched as Sasuke-kun went about his life, but before Sakura could truly get into her stalk-spying she heard a voice behind her say, "Well look what we have here. I do believe there's an idiotic student ignoring the sage advise of her sensei."

Sakura whipped around and gasped in horror when she saw Anko-sensei standing behind her with a look of joyful malevolence on her face. Anko gave an evil laugh as she said, "We're gonna have to work on that hearing problem girlie." Sakura only had time to cry out a terror-filled, "No!", before Anko grabbed Sakura and took her to the nearest training field with a shushin. "All right girlie! We'll start with an easy 5 mile run run followed by: 100 push-ups, 200 squats, and 300 curl-ups. Then we'll do some dodging practice, and remember the kunai I'll be throwing at you are battle ready so take dodging seriously."

Sakura gulped. It was so much, "B-b-but Sensei I already did 5 hours of conditioning this morning. Isn't all this on top of that too much?"

Anko gave Sakura a disappointed glare, "Those 5 hours of conditioning this morning obviously weren't enough to tire you out if you were able to sneak all over Konoha to stalk some poor kid. Besides you know the rules girlie. I don't permit Sasuke fanatics, or any other type of male obsessed fanatic for that matter. In my opinion, the only way to turn a fanatic into a regular girl is to work her until she's too tired to pursue her obsession. So get to work before I call out Mishiko."

Sakura gave a little shriek of fright at Anko's threat and then took off to complete her 5 mile run. All while having to deal with an already sore body from this mornings workout. As Sakura suffered through her punishment she wondered if Sasuke was really worth it.

.

.

Naruto was stalking through the trees of training ground 8, determined to complete his mission of finding and capturing Inoichi-sensei. The boy paused as he saw his sensei through the trees. Then, with a shout of, "Kage bushin no jutsu!", Naruto lept from his hiding place and rushed the jonin with an army of clones behind him. The next few minutes passed in a blur as Inoichi easily managed to subdue the genin. The sensei gave his student a disappointed look, "What am I going to do with you Naruto? For the past two weeks I've tried every training method I know to teach you not to rush into battle, but your still not getting it. Don't you know this kind of behavior will get you killed?"

Naruto gave his sensei an annoyed pout, "I'm doing just fine as I am! I don't need to stop and think; I always find a way when it counts."

"It counts now Naruto!" Inoichi shouted, then closed his eyes and visibly calmed himself down, "If this had been a real battle you would be dead, not just tied up and dangling upside down from a tree. Rushing into battle without any plans or thought is _reckless_."

The boy looked away from his sensei with an expression of stubborn annoyance on his face. The jonin sighed when he saw his words had no affect, "That's enough for today Naruto. I'll leave you hanging there in hopes that, by some miracle, it will teach you something." Inoichi turned and started to walk away from his student then paused and turned back, "I almost forgot, Ibiki wanted me to tell you to meet him at training ground 7 tomorrow at 0600 for a team training exercise." Naruto perked up at that news, and, in his joy missed the slight guilty expression on his sensei's face as he once again began to leave the training ground. Inoichi stopped when he got into the treeline out of his student's hearing range, and just looked at the genin for a moment before saying, "I'm so sorry for what I must do to you Naruto."

.

.

Ibiki watched as his students 3 interim sensei came in and sat down around the conference table he was sitting at.

After around 5 minutes of small talk Ibiki cleared his throat, and everyone quieted down to look at him as he started speaking, "You've each been working with one of my students for the past two weeks. This is the planned half-way point of the month you were provided to break my students of their bad habits. What is their progress?"

Inoichi snorted and gave an amused shake of his head, "It seems you still like to get strait to the point Ibiki. That's not exactly social you know?"

Ibiki frowned and glared at his former sensei as he sharply said, "With all due respect sensei, the T&I department is keeping me too busy for small talk. Why do you think I'm so anxious to get my students trained?" Ibiki turned to look at Gai, "Now, what's Shikamaru's progress Gai?"

The spandex wearing jonin jumped from his seat with his hand held towards Ibiki in a thumbs up position, "Shikamaru-kun's youthfulness is no longer waning! Why just this morning he made training plans with my beautiful students Neji and Tenten. I believe my young temporary student has overcome his unyouthful laziness and is prepared to return to you Ibiki-san!"

Ibiki blinked in surprise, surely such a deeply ingrained thing as Shikamaru's laziness could not be overcome so quickly. Ibiki once again focused on Gai. Then again, Shikamaru had probably figured out that the only way to get away from Gai was to work hard. The T&I head couldn't think of a better encouragement to work hard then getting away from the crazy jonin, which was partly why Ibiki had sent Shikamaru to Gai in the first place, and why his lazy student would go back to Gai if he ever slacked off again. At that thought a small sadistic smile made its way onto Ibiki's face. The T&I head pulled himself out of his thoughts and brought his eyes back to the spandex wearing jonin, "Good work Gai, and thank you. Starting tomorrow I'll take over Shikamaru's training."

Gai snapped a salute at Ibiki, "Yosh! It shall be as you say, but anytime Shikamaru wishes, he may join me and my beautiful students training sessions."

Ibiki's sadistic smile grew as he said, "That's a generous offer Gai and I will certainly keep it in mind." With that Ibiki turned his attention to Anko, "Well Anko, how's Sakura doing?"

Anko snorted and slouched farther into her chair, "She's a pathetic weakling that still has a ways to go." The psychotic jonin perked up, "But at least I get to keep playing with my new toy."

Ibiki sighed and shook his head, "Is she _progressing _Anko?"

The sadistic woman smirked, "Oh yeah, she's growing by leaps and bounds. But she was pathetic when she came to me and, while she's improving, she still has a long way to go. My training methods _are _working though."

Ibiki gave Anko a nod and turned to Inoichi, "And how is Naruto doing sensei?"

Inoichi frowned and looked down, "He isn't improving at all." The blond jonin sighed and lifted his hand to rub his forehead, "I'm afraid I'll need to try something more drastic."

Ibiki's eyebrows drew together in concern. Inoichi-sensei looked guilty and he only looked like that when he was about to really hurt someone close to him, "How drastic?" The scarred jonin asked in a subdued voice. Ibiki's concern for the situation grew when his former sensei's only response was to flinch and turn away. Ibiki looked right at the blond jonin as he said in a commanding voice, "Don't break him."

Inoichi's head snapped up to look at his former student with eyes that seemed to be filled with angry blue fire, "Do not forget who you're talking to _student. _I can tell where a persons limits are and I will _not_ go beyond Naruto's!"

Inoichi's chair clattered to the floor as he abruptly stood and angrily walked from the room. As he left the conference room he heard Ibiki say, "Meeting adjourned." in a subdued voice. But he didn't care.

.

.

Naruto enthusiastically headed for training ground 7 and the team meeting. He'd finally get to see Shikamaru again! He hadn't seen him in two weeks. Of... course... Sakura would be there too, but hey, Shikamaru would be there!

When Naruto walked into training ground 7 he felt a little dizzy, but it only lasted a few seconds so he shrugged it off and started looking around the training field to see if his teammates had arrived yet. The blond boy eventually found Shikamaru leaning lazily against one of the training posts. As soon as Naruto saw his lazy friend he went bounding over, "Hey Shikamaru!"

The lazy Nara glanced up and smirked, "Hey Naruto. You're still as energetic as ever I see."

Naruto was about to shoot back a semi-snarky comment when Sakura butted in, "Hey what about me Naruto! Don't you at least have enough manners to greet a lady?"

The whiskered genin snorted and glared balefully at his pink-haired teammate, "If your a lady than I'm the freakin' king of the world."

Sakura gaped at Naruto for a minute then her face quickly morphed into a look of pure rage, "Naruto!", the violent girl shouted as she ran toward the blond boy with her fist raised threateningly. Naruto yelped and hurried to get away from his crazy teammate.

Sakura chased the pesky blond around the training field a few times, until suddenly a voice shouted, "Enough!". Naruto and Sakura both froze and saw their sensei looking at them angrily, "You two get over there by your other teammate, and all of you stand at attention!"

The three genin hurried to comply with their irate sensei. As soon as they were where they were supposed to be, Ibiki continued, "Now, I want to see how much your one-on-one training is helping you. So, you as team are going to complete a low level intel gathering mission. You 3 are to find out where Konohagakure's supply depot 1 is located. Then you are to go there and obtain proof that you actually found it. You have 24 hours to complete this mission beginning now. Dismissed!"

With that Ibiki disappeared in a shushin and the 3 genin got to work.

.

.

It was 10 hours later when the genin found the depot. They were crouched in the bushes surrounding the depot trying to figure out the best way in. Nartuo was all for heading strait through the front door to find the proof, but Shikamaru stopped him, "This is a supply depot. I'm sure there are traps and maybe even guards protecting it. We need to be careful when while we approach."

Naruto pouted, "But Shikamaru, we've been at this for 10 hours I wanna go get ramen! Can't we just hurry and get this done?"

The Nara let out a long suffering sigh, "No, we need to find out everything we can about the security of this place; then we can finish this."

The blond genin shrugged, "I'll just make a shadow clone and send it in. Then we don't have to worry about traps, the clone will take all the hits for us."

Naruto put his hands into the cross seal and started to gather his chakra when Shikamaru did a crouching lunge forward, grabbed his friends hands in a stopping motion, and said in a harsh whisper, "Stop! Just setting off the traps will probably trigger the alarms! This is an intel gathering mission. By definition that means we have to stay hidden."

The blond genin once again pouted, but he couldn't deny his friends logic, so he relaxed a bit, "Fine. Then what-"

"Shh!", Sakura whispered, "Do you guys hear that?"

The two boys quieted to listen and soon they heard the same thing as Sakura, "Sounds like foot steps." Shikamaru said, "A patrol maybe?"

Sakura shrugged, "Maybe. In any case we're well hidden here and this could be a good opportunity to see what kind of security this place has."

Her two teammates responded with "Agreed.", and then they all settled down to wait and see what came. As they watched a ninja came out of the woods wearing nondescript clothes except for the hitie-ate that had a horizontal slash cut through the middle of the village symbol. Sakura gasped and whispered, "Nuke-nin.", in a fear-filled voice.

The three genin watched as the nuke-nin snuck closer to the supply depot, and seemed to be picking his way through the buildings outer security layers.

Naruto, not caring how dangerous the guy might be, jumped out of his hiding place and shouted, "No way are we gonna let you steal from Konoha's supplies! Me and my teammates will stop you!" With that Naruto gave a yell and charged the nuke-nin. Shikamaru shouted for the impulsive boy to wait, but Naruto ignored him. It wasn't until Naruto heard a gurgling, pain-filled scream coming from Sakura that he even thought to look back. When he saw what was behind him Naruto froze in horror. For behind him was a glassy eyed Sakura, with her face forever fixed in a look of fearful shock, falling bonelessly to the ground. And Shikamaru, his first friend, was being held by a second nuke-nin with a kunai centimeters from his throat. Naruto gave a cry of alarm and turned to go help his friend, but he had barely taken 2 steps when he found himself held in a choke-hold by the first nuke-nin.

With a rasping laugh the second nuke-nin drew his kunai across Shikamaru's throat. Naruto was forced to watch as the life drained from his first friends eyes, "No! Shikamaru! Sakura!"

The blond boy heard dark laughter coming from the nuke-nin restraining him, "You know, if you hadn't come charging out of your hiding place we might have never known you and your two little teammates were there. We might of left witnesses. Thanks for the help kid!"

Naruto went limp with shock, his fault. It was his fault his teammates were dead. Shikamaru, his first friend, and Sakura, he may not have liked her very much, but she didn't deserve to die like that! Neither of them did. As the reality of what had just happened sunk in Naruto's face crumpled up in pain.

As silent tears leaked from his eyes the second nuke-nin came to stand in front of him, "Aww, Is the little genin in pain? Well don't worry boy. I'll end the pain real soon." The second nuke-nin started laughing again as he raised his kunai to plunge into Naruto. But, at hearing the nuke-nin once again laughing, something inside Naruto snapped. The next few minutes were a haze of disjointed colors and sounds. Before the merciful darkness of unconsciousness overtook the breaking genin.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey all! My sisters getting married! Woohoo! Unfortunately, that means I won't be able to update for at least two weeks. Sorry, but I did make this chapter extra long to make up for it. :) Oh, and this chapter may seem a little disjointed because it's really just a bunch of one-shots strung together. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 11

3 days after attack.

Naruto stared dully at the wall of his apartment, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten back to his apartment and he didn't care. He turned his dull eyes to the window to try and find some light. But the world seemed gray and bitter. A small voice in his head whispered, 'your fault. Your fault. They're dead because of you!' Naruto closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame, 'I killed my teammates. I was too stupid to listen to Inoichi-sensei's lessons, and now Shikamaru is dead, Sakura is too. How can I fix this? How can I possibly atone for what I've done?' The pesky little voice from earlier came back, 'work harder, train harder, make sure you're strong enough to protect all your allies and _never_ make this mistake again.'

He still had his head bowed as he thought of what the voice had said. He gave a quick nod and rose to his feet. For the first time in 3 days there was a bit of fire in Naruto's eyes. He needed to get stronger and he was going to pester Ibiki-sensei until he agreed to help!

. . . .

Naruto had done a lot of weird things in his life, but staking out the ANBU headquarters would definitely be near the top of the list. As he crouched in a tree in front of ANBU headquarters he stared in shock at the two people standing in front of the building.

It was Shikamaru and Sakura, but it couldn't be. He'd watched them die. He decided they had to be impostors, and that made him angry. He was about to rush down and confront the two spies when a thought entered his mind and made him pause. He couldn't rush in. Rushing into battle was how his teammates got killed and he promised himself that he would never make that mistake again. Instead he would get more info on the two fakes and go from there. He carefully got closer to them so he could hear their conversation.

The Shikamaru look-alike looked away from the clouds to look at the false Sakura. "So, Sakura, why are you here of all places? I know I'm here to meet with Ibiki-sensei, but I didn't get the impression that it was a team meeting."

Sakura shuddered. "I'm supposed to meet Anko-sensei here. You're lucky you get to meet with Ibiki-sensei. I swear Anko-sensei has to be the most evil person I've ever met."

Shikamaru gave Sakura a pointed look then went back to watching the clouds. "I haven't met this Anko-sensei, but there's no way she's more evil than Gai-sensei."

Sakura laughed. "No way! My sensei throws battle-ready kunai at me and has an extremely poisonous snake chase me around with the intention to _bite_ me!" Sakura's face filled with terror as she remembered all that had been done to her.

Shikamaru hummed in thought. "Yeah, I'll admit that's pretty awful. But at least it has a purpose. My sensei tries to hug me while wearing full-body spandex, and he says 'springtime' and 'youth' in every other sentence. But the worst part is that it's _absolutely meaningless_." Shikamaru shuddered.

Sakura angrily got right up in Shikamaru's face. "You wimp! Are you honestly comparing _hugs_ to kunai and poisonous snakes?"

Naruto was confused: these two were definitely his real teammates, but...how was that possible? Well. Now that he knew there was no danger it would be all right to confront them directly. So the blond boy jumped down from his perch and headed toward his teammates.

Shikamaru noticed him first and smiled. "Hora, Naruto. What a surprise to see you here too."

The blond genin was shocked at how casually Shikamaru greeted him. Naruto had watched him and Sakura die three days ago and here they both were, acting like nothing had happened! Overwhelmed by confused frustration Naruto shouted, "you're dead!"

Shikamaru looked surprised and confused. Sakura on the other hand looked like she was about to hit Naruto before she froze and glanced around as if looking for something. When she saw a woman on the other side of the courtyard she stiffened, and when she turned back to Naruto she had a small almost guilty smile on her face. "Wow, Naruto, I know we haven't been on the best of terms lately, but that seems a bit harsh."

Naruto stared at Sakura and wondered if maybe he was wrong and they really were imposters. Before he had time to contemplate the best escape Shikamaru asked, "What do you mean we're dead, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked and debated whether it would be better to stay and get more info or leave and warn someone. In the end he decided it was better to stay and confront them. "I saw you die. You both had your throats slit by nuke-nin."

Sakura gasped and Shikamaru looked surprised. "When did you see us die, Naruto?"

Naruto's face took on a look of pain as he lowered his head, shaking it slowly. This was hard to talk about, the memories were still so fresh. Remembering was rubbing his emotions raw. "I-it was...three days ago."

Shikamaru didn't understand what was going on with his blond teammate. He and Sakura were fine and certainly hadn't come across any nuke-nin lately. If it weren't for the very obvious pain Naruto was feeling he might have thought the "prank king of Konoha" was trying to pull one over on them. The genius knew he needed to reassure Naruto that he and Sakura were alive and well, and then he needed to figure out what had happened to make his friend believe otherwise. "Naruto, three days ago I was with Gai-sensei for my final training session."

Sakura caught on to what Shikamaru was doing and said. "And I was with Anko-sensei all day. Well, except when I was in the hospital." Shikamaru gave her a strange look at that.

Naruto looked back and forth between his two teammates, starting to wonder what was going on. "Wait, that can't be right. Inoichi-sensei told me that I was supposed to go to a team meeting at Training Ground 7 that day, so why were you guys with your temporary sensei?"

Sakura had a thoughtful look on her face, then her eyes brightened. "Naruto, did anything weird happen on the way to train with Inoichi-sensei that day, or while you were there?"

Naruto's face took on a thoughtful look. "No, not that I can think of."

"Huh." Sakura's face fell before it brightened again. "Oh! What about on the way to the training ground? Or right after you got there?"

The whiskered teen's eyebrows drew together, and his mouth turned down in a confused frown as he slowly shook his head. "Nooo, I-" His eyes widened. "Well actually, I felt a little dizzy right as I entered the training ground. Which is weird because I don't usually get dizzy."

A look of comprehension dawned on Shikamaru's face as Sakura pressed her face into her palm. "Baka. You were in a genjutsu."

Naruto looked confused. "Huh? How do you know?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Dizziness is one of the biggest warning sings for genjutsu."

The blond boy perked up. "It is?"

Sakura just looked incredulously at her dense teammate. "We learned that in the academy. Honestly, didn't you ever pay attention?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not really. So anyway, you guys dying was just a genjutsu? That's...a really big relief." Suddenly his face took on a horrorstruck look. "Crap! If all that was a genjutsu then Inoichi-sensei probably thinks I ditched the last three days of training! I've gotta go tell him what happened!" With that Naruto took off running.

Shikamaru's quick mind went through everything he'd learned about Naruto's genjutsu experience, and he came to a disturbing conclusion. "Naruto wait!"

Naruto stopped and came back to his friend, looking impatient. "What's up, Shikamaru?"

The genius looked at his friend with a serious expression. "Naruto, you said Inoichi-sensei told you to go to Training Ground 7, right?"

Naruto's face lost some of its joviality as he said, "Yeah, so?"

Shikamaru sadly looked at his friend. "Considering the fact that Inoichi-sensei told you to go to the training ground, and he was probably the only one who knew you were there, it's very possible that Inoichi-sensei was the one who put you in that genjutsu."

Naruto's face went completely blank and he just stared at Shikamaru for a minute. Then he turned away, and when he spoke his voice was odd. "Thanks for telling me. I-I gotta go think about this." Before they could say anything else their teammate disappeared down the street.

.

.

Naruto once again stood in front of Yamanaka Flower Shop, staring at the door. This time Naruto felt no excitement only sadness that yet another person he had considered trustworthy had proven unworthy. The blond boy took a deep bracing breath, then pushed open the door. The flower shop looked the same as the first time he'd seen it, but Ino was behind the counter instead of her father.

Ino looked up from the fashion magazine she was reading with a polite smile on her face, opening her mouth to greet the new customer. However, when she saw Naruto standing there her smile fell into a look of confusion. "Naruto? What are you doing here?"

Naruto glanced around the shop. "I'm looking for your dad, Inoichi-sen...uh...Inoichi-san." Though it was proper, he just couldn't bring himself to use the honorific "sensei". Not after what had happened.

Ino gave him a strange look. "Why would you need to see my dad?"

Naruto frowned and the rest of his face became closed as a shuttered window. "My sensei brought me here."

Ino gave him another strange look. "Then where's your sensei?"

Naruto shrugged, feeling obstinate. "I don't know. Where's your father?"

Ino frowned and opened her mouth to respond, but before she could a voice from the back of the shop gained both their attention. "Naruto?" Naruto turned to see Inoichi standing there. Ino smiled at her father and Naruto's face remained a careful blank. Inoichi smiled back at his daughter, then turned to Naruto and winced at the boy's expression. He could see this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, and having it in front of his daughter was unacceptable. "Let's head to the training ground, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and immediately turned on his heel, marching out the door. Inoichi frowned at his student's behavior, but it was understandable. With a sigh at what he knew was to come, Inoichi followed after his student.

. . . .

When Inoichi reached the training ground Naruto was already there, sitting against one of the training posts and looking at the sky. Inoichi cleared his throat to get the boy's attention. Naruto immediately turned his head toward him, and stared at him with that same carefully blank expression he'd worn in the flower shop. The sensei went and sat down in front of his student. "I think it would be wise to clear the air between us before we start training."

Naruto shrugged. "Fine," he replied in a cold voice, "I'll say what I need to say without interruptions, and then you can say what you need to say with no interruptions. Sound fair?"

Inoichi flinched at his student's tone of voice. Yes, this conversation would most certainly be unpleasant. But it still needed to be done, so the jonin nodded in agreement to the genin's conditions.

After seeing Inoichi's nod Naruto began. "I know you put me in a genjutsu, and I even understand why. I had a major weakness and I was being too arrogant to see it. But you went too far to teach me that lesson. The majority of the world wants me dead, and the rest sit back and watch as the ones who want me dead try to kill me. That makes it very hard to trust people.

"I have three people in the world that I _do_ trust and care about, and you forced me to watch one of them die because of my mistake." He laughed with surprising bitterness. "A very effective lesson, sensei. And an even more effective torture."

Inoichi was almost relieved to hear the sarcastic anger in Naruto's voice towards the end of his speech. However, the fact that Naruto was accusing him of torture didn't bode well for their future teacher/student relationship. Inoichi sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Perhaps I did go too far, but I couldn't think of anything else. I had already tried everything I knew to break you of rushing in without thinking! Nothing was working! It was the _only_ option left. Nevertheless I am sorry if you feel I've betrayed your trust."

Naruto carefully searched Inoichi's face for any sign of deception, but he didn't see any. Not that that was saying much; he'd seen Inoichi spot a spy and charm a confession out of him in less than an hour. He hadn't looked like he was lying then, either. The genin finally turned his face away from Inoichi with a snort. "Don't worry, you didn't betray my trust. You can't betray what doesn't exist. I'll admit I was beginning to consider trusting you, before you tortured me. No, the only thing I feel towards you is disappointment that there's yet another person out there I cannot trust."

Inoichi was shocked. Were Naruto's masks really this good? The jonin had pegged his student as open and trusting, but Naruto wasn't trusting at all. Who knew if he was really open, or was just telling people what they would most easily believe? But Inoichi would probably never know the truth, because he had inadvertently forced Naruto to live his worst fear.

He had indeed tortured Naruto, who had likely had endured enough of that in his life already. Shame and guilt washed over him for what he'd forced the young genin to go through. In a choked, rasping voice he said "I'm so sorry, Naruto. I never meant for it to be so bad. I only wanted to teach you, not cause you great and unnecessary pain. I hope that I can someday show you that I can be trusted, and that I would never intentionally hurt you this much."

Naruto again studied Inoichi, then nodded. "Well, I already don't trust you. The only way you have to go is up. That's something I guess." The genin stood and started walking toward the center of the training ground. "We should probably start on training if we want to get anything done today."

Inoichi shook his head in wonder. With one sentence he felt as if he'd been forgiven, and offered some hope for the future. Both of which made him feel ingratiated to the boy. The jonin didn't think he'd ever seen anyone as naturally talented at emotional manipulation as Naruto was showing himself to be. The only reason Inoichi even realized his emotions were being manipulated was because he himself preferred that method of interrogation. The teacher wondered if the genin even realized what he was doing. But he shook aside such thoughts and went to train his student.

And, hopefully, regain his trust.

.

.

Shikamaru was walking through the streets of Konoha remembering his meeting with Ibiki-sensei yesterday.

*** flashback ***

Shikamaru was sitting in a chair in front of Ibiki-sensei's desk, and he had to say that the screams and cries for mercy coming from further down the hall were unnerving.

The Nara turned his attention back to his sensei as Ibiki-sensei cleared his throat. "You finished your training with Gai more quickly than expected. And, while I can't say I blame you, this leaves me with an odd problem. I had alloted you and your teammates temporary sensei a month to train you out of your weaknesses, and your two teammates will need the entire time. As I want the entire team to be together when I start training you, I'm going to have to give you three options.

"Option 1: you can do nothing for the next two weeks. Option 2: you can train by yourself. Option 3: you find yourself a new sensei for the next two weeks. I won't find a new sensei for you." He smiled wickedly. "Oh, and one more thing before you leave. If I catch you slacking off on the job after this, I'll send you back to Gai for remedial training. Since we'll need you for team training as well, your sessions with Gai will have to be extra. But now that you know Gai, I'm sure you realize he won't go easy on you. Dismissed."

It was a very pale Shikamaru that left Ibiki's office.

*** end of flashback ***

After Ibiki-sensei's threat, Shikamaru knew doing nothing for the next two weeks wasn't an option. And he suspected that if he tried to just train by himself he would end up with Gai-sensei again as well. So, here he was trolling the streets of Konoha trying to find a jonin who looked bored enough to even consider taking on a temporary student.

The genius looked to his left at the shogi tables that were set up in Konoha's main park, and saw a bearded jonin playing against himself. Shikamaru stared at the jonin for a minute and then shrugged and headed over to his table. He stopped in front of the jonin, who had taken out a cigarette and was in the middle of lighting it. "Want an opponent?"

The jonin looked up from his game at Shikamaru and raised an eyebrow. "You think you can give me a challenge kid? You seem a bit young to be playing a jonin."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Age has nothing to do with the fundamentals of shogi. If you know the moves and can play the long game a five year old can beat the Hokage."

The jonin looked him over again, then shrugged too. "Might as well see what you got." He gestured to the seat across from him. "Have a seat."

Shikamaru sat down and started clearing the board and setting up the pieces for a fresh game. "I'm Nara Shikamaru."

The smoking jonin glanced up from arranging his own pieces. "Nara, eh? Might be you'll present a challenge after all, if you take after your dad. I'm Sarutobi Asuma."

The boy nodded and moved a piece. "A pleasure to meet you, Asuma-san. Your move."

. . . .

Three hours had passed and the game was over, with Asuma as the victor.

Asuma crushed his current cigarette against the table and looked over at Shikamaru. "Your shogi skills are impressive."

The young genius gave a small frown. "Thanks, but they're obviously not impressive enough."

Asuma gave a deep laugh. "Relax, kid. You're still young and even still you gave me a good challenge." The jonin paused and gave Shikamaru a thoughtful look. "Although a little training never hurt anyone. Tell you what, kid. I've got two weeks of leave starting yesterday. If you want, you can meet me here every day for a few hours and I'll help you improve your strategy."

Shikamaru couldn't believe his luck. He had just been made aware of his need for a sensei, and here one was, dropped right into his lap. The Nara smiled. "Sounds good, Asuma-sensei."

.

.

**ONE MONTH AFTER MEETING THE TEMPORARY SENSEI**

It was raining, and though Sakura knew the rain was doing all sorts of things to ruin her good looks, she had no desire to go inside. For the last month Anko-sensei had been merciless with her, either beating her up or sending her running as punishment for the smallest things. If she talked too loud she'd get a fist in her mouth. When she had called one of her crazy sensei's snakes "it" instead of "she", Anko-sensei had sent _five_ different types of poisonous snakes after her.

How was she supposed to know whether a snake was a boy or a girl? It was a freaking _snake_!

However today Anko-sensei hadn't punished her. In fact today only consisted of one small lecture. But today's lesson impacted her more than all the other lessons combined. Or perhaps, _because_ of all the other lessons, this one had struck with special force.

She closed her eyes and remembered what Anko-sensei had said. "For the last month I've punished, insulted you, and basically made sure you were always a punching bag in my eyes. No matter what you did, I could always take my anger and frustration out on you, knowing that you wouldn't strike back."

Her sensei had paused, then mercilessly continued. "And for the last month I've been acting _exactly_ like you. I've exaggerated, of course, but not by much. The way I've treated you for the last month is the same way I've observed you treating your friends and family. But there's someone you've treated worse than all the rest. There always is, in these cases. Figure out who that person is, and apologize to them." Another shrewd pause. "This isn't an assignment, mind you. You've proven that you're no longer a fan girl and that you can be trusted around your allies. But it would still be a good idea to do this, for your own sake. Even if the person you've tormented more than anyone else can't find it in their heart to forgive you, if nothing else it will cement in your own mind that you've changed."

Sakura felt a tear slip past the shield her closed eyelid created and slide down her cheek. Had she really been that awful? She was terrified of Anko-sensei, and she hated her; was that how her friends and family felt about her? Sakura felt another tear slip past her nose as she remembered what Ino had said to her when she was asking everyone what they thought of her.

"Honestly, Sakura? I was kind of glad when our friendship ended. I mean, you're a cool girl and all, and most of the time hanging out with you was pretty fun. But I always felt like I was walking on eggshells around you, 'cause I never knew what would set off your anger. In all honesty, Sakura, you kind of scare me."

Two more tears slid down Sakura's face to mingle with the rain. Ino was one of the ones she'd been the least violent around, and Ino was scared of her. What must Naruto, the person she knew she had been cruelest to, think of her? A shuddering sob escaped her mouth as she thought of how cold and even mean Naruto had been to her lately.

Even Naruto, who had always been filled with warmth and kindness towards her, had been driven away by her behavior.

But she wouldn't let things stay this way. She had learned how to control her violent tendencies, and she would prove that to everyone. Starting with Naruto. Sakura stood with a determined posture as she wiped away her still-falling tears. She would find Naruto and make sure to always be the kind of friend he deserved.

. . . .

Sakura found Naruto scarfing down ramen at Ichiraku's. Before this would have disgusted her, but a month of watching Anko-sensei down dango and sake with, if possible, even less finesse than Naruto had while eating ramen, had cured her of her disgust when it came to watching gluttons eat.

Sakura wanted to apologize to Naruto quickly now that she'd found him, but Ichiraku's was too public a place for this conversation. It needed to be more private both for Naruto's sake and- and for hers. She watched as her teammate finished his last bowl of ramen, payed, and then walked out into the rain.

Sakura waited for a few moments, then followed him. Naruto seemed to be wandering around without any care of where he was going, but when he came to one of the many bridges that crossed Konoha River he stopped and sighed. "Sakura, why are you following me?"

Sakura jumped a bit at being caught, and then with a bracing breath she stepped out into Naruto's line of sight. When she saw Naruto she couldn't help but look down in shame. "I-I wanted to...to apologize for all the times that I've been cruel to you. I-I'm so sorry, Naruto. Please forgive me."

Naruto watched a Sakura with her head bowed the entire time she apologized to him, and he could honestly say, he had no idea what to say. This was completely unexpected and totally unlike her. Plus, he didn't want to forgive her. He wouldn't mind it if they never saw each other again. But then he remembered that terrible genjutsu and winced; he never wanted to see that for real, and they were teammates. They at least needed to get along.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts: he couldn't think of this now, not when she was standing in front of him soaking wet and looking completely pathetic. So he turned and started to walk away.

Sakura watched as Naruto walked away with sadness growing in her heart. He hadn't forgiven her, and maybe he never would. Still, as she watched him walk away her determination was still there. Although now it was mixed with sadness, still in a quiet voice she said, "I _am_ sorry, Naruto, and I will atone for all the cruelty I've heaped upon you, no matter what."

Sakura didn't think Naruto could hear her last statement-no, promise-but he had heard and although he refused to look at her he said, "I forgive you, Sakura." In that moment Sakura's heart soared with happiness. There was still hope for a friendship! Then Naruto continued. "But I doubt I'll ever be able to trust you enough to call you a friend."

With that Naruto continued on his way home. And Sakura stood watching him go with her hope and happiness shattered and silent tears running down her cheeks.

.

.

Sakura lay back watching the clouds float by. Normally she wouldn't even consider wasting the day away watching clouds, but she was distressed and cloud watching always seemed to calm down Shikamaru. The girls thoughts wandered to the reason for her distress. It had been almost a week since she'd apologized to Naruto and, although he didn't actively avoid her, he still treated her like he did most of the villagers. Always hiding everything he was thinking, being painfully polite, well, for him anyway. It was all really bothering her.

She remembered when her team was invited to eat at the Naras, and how cool it was to hear Shikamaru's dad talk about how his team had been together since they were genin, and that even back then they were a family. Family, that's what Sakura wanted her team to be, but with the rift between her and Naruto she didn't see how that could happen. A wave of frustration overtook her and she sullenly thought that probably the only reason Naruto forgave her in the first place was because of that stupid genjutsu... Sakura shot to a sitting position as she thought, 'That genjutsu! Naruto sucks at genjutsu and I'm really good at them. Maybe I can help Naruto with his genjutsu skills as a peace offering!', Sakura jumped to her feet and went to find Naruto with determined strides.

. . . .

"Ok Sakura, hit me with your best shot!", Naruto said in a cocky voice.

The pink haired girl gave a nod and started forming hand seals as she said, "This genjutsu won't start right away, so remember all the warning signs for being in a genjutsu, and the method I taught you for getting out of one." With that Sakura finished the last of the hand signs and focused on what she wanted the genjutsu to look like.

Naruto saw Sakura finish the hand signs and started focusing for the warning signs his teammate had taught him, but after a minute passed with no change he figured Sakura must have screwed up so he told her to try again. While he was speaking a faint dizziness came and went, but he was too distracted to notice. He felt the wind pick up speed and looked around to see if a storm was coming. What he found though made him freeze in shock. For there in front of him was the Kyuubi no Kitsune it all its fearful glory, "W-wh-what the. Kyuubi what are you doin' out of me?" Seconds after he said that, the picture of the Kyuubi wavered and fell away revealing a stunned Sakura.

"Naruto, you- your a jinchuuriki?" Sakura breathlessly asked.

Naruto stared at his teammate for a moment then gave the only response he could think of, "Oh crap."

.

**.**

Naruto was in training ground 2 half-heartedly throwing kunai at one of the training posts. For the last week, he and his two teammates had been trying out all sorts if different melee weapons to try and find the best ones for them to train in.

Sakura had found this sweet pair of knuckle knives, and Naruto knew she'd do well with them after all knuckle knives were used for hitting and slashing. What could be more perfect for a girl who loved to hit people. Naruto shuddered at the thought of getting hit by Sakura's new toys and made a mental note to be more careful about ticking her off. even though she hadn't tried to hurt him since she finished training with Anko-sensei it was still better to be on the safe side.

Shikamaru had gotten a pretty cool weapon too. Seriously what's cooler than a long bow? Of course Shikamaru could barely pull the draw string back because of the incredibly strong draw it had. Still, with a lot of weight training Shikamaru would be able to train with a cool weapon in no time.

Then there was him. He's tried so many different weapons and none of them worked! It wasn't his fault that ANBU got in the way of him practicing a kata with a katana. He sighed as he remembered what Shikamaru and Sakura did to him after that event.

**FLASHBACK**

Naruto struggled to get out of the spread-eagled position his two teammates had tied him in. "C'mon you guys! let me out of this!"

Shikamaru frowned, "Not until you promise not to use any weapons besides throwing weapons."

The blond boy pouted, "Oh C'mon! I wasn't that bad!"

Sakura's face took on a look of disbelief, "Not that bad? Naruto, you manged to knock yourself out with a spear, and when you tried to fire Shikamaru's long bow you somehow hit yourself upside the head with it. You got my knuckle knives stuck together, which, by the way, should be impossible. And for goodness sake you nearly decapitated an ANBU!"

"Those were all accidents!", Naruto yelled defensibly.

"Exactly!", His two teammates shouted back.

Then with a long suffering sigh Shikamaru continued, "You're a danger to yourself and others when you use weapons. The only weapon you've used that hasn't caused immediate chaos is kunai. We figure if you can handle kunai, other throwing weapons are okay too. So, will you promise not to use any weapons besides throwing ones?"

Naruto had an unhappy pout on his face as he replied, "Fine. I promise not to use any weapons besides throwing weapons."

Shikamaru and Sakura nodded and let their teammate out of the ropes. As soon as Naruto was free he ditched his teammates and dejectedly walked around town until he ended up at training ground 2.

**END FLASHBACK**

Naruto sullenly threw another kunai at the training post as he grumbled, "Stupid ANBU getting in my way and stinking teammates butting in where they're not wanted." Naruto channeled his annoyance into his next throw and watched as the weapon hit dead center and up to the hilt.

"Nice throw.", an unfamiliar voice said.

The blond genin spun towards where the voice was coming from in order to see who had said that. He was surprised to find that it was an older man who had complemented him. Which was weird. Aside from Jiji most of the older generations despised him. Yet this man, who looked like he might have been injured in the Kyuubi attack with his left eye and arm covered in bandages and a strange x-like scar on his chin, had taken time to not only watch his throw but comment on it as well. Confused, Naruto asked, "Who're you and what're you doin' here?"

The man gave a small, soft smile, "My name is Danzo, I heard about the trouble you've been having with melee weapons and I wanted to help. But you probably don't need my help if you can throw like that."

Alarm bells went off in Naruto's head as this Danzo person talked about helping him, "Why would you want to help me, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?"

Danzo's face took on a look of remorse, "I've been on the Konoha council since before you were born, and I never agreed with the way Hiruzen decided to handle your situation. It saddens me to see the way most Konoha citizens treat you. I've tried to help you as much as I could with out stepping on Hiruzen's toes. Sadly, that wasn't as much as I would have liked, but I can give you training tips without over stepping any bounds."

Naruto blinked, "So basically, you want to make up for not really being there in the past by becoming some sort of mentor?"

Danzo smiled, "Pretty much."

A bright smile lit up Naruto's face, "Sweet! So what do you want to teach me?"

"I believe elemental manipulation would serve you best at this time." Danzo pulled out a white 2 inch-by-2 inch square of paper and held it toward Naruto, "Here, channel some chakra into this."

The blond genin tentatively took the piece of paper and suspiciously asked, "Why?"

Danzo had a calming smile on his face as he took out another piece of paper, "That paper will show you what your elemental affinity is: If the paper gets soggy your affinity is water; If it burns, your fire; If it crumbles, your earth; If it gets cut down the middle, your wind; and if it crinkles up, your lightning." Danzo channeled chakra into the paper he was holding and they both watched as it crumbled to dust, "As you can see, my affinity is earth. Now what's yours?"

Naruto gave the paper one more suspicious look and then shrugged and focused on channeling chakra into his piece of paper. The boy watched in awe as his paper split right down the middle. The genin's face brightened, "Cool! Hey, hey! It split down the middle. That means I'm wind, right?"

Danzo's smile turned into a subtle grin, "Very good Naruto, you picked up on that lesson quickly. Wind is quite rare in Konoha and that makes you unique, and I believe a wind affinity will be especially useful to you with your talent at throwing weapons. Now, we'll start training your affinity with the leaf exercise." Danzo held up a leaf, "You've already split the paper in two now try splitting the leaf in two. Though I warn you, splitting the leaf will be a lot harder than splitting the paper was. Once you've finished the leaf cutting exercise come find me and I'll show you the next step."

.

**. **

It was late morning and Ibiki-sensei had been called away for an interrogation.

It was amazing how often that happened: Ibiki-sensei really needed to get better interrogators. But because Team Psych wasn't ready to see interrogations yet he sent them to the ANBU Library with instructions to look around for any books that interested them, but to stay away from any about jutsus. He was expecting them to report on what they read, so lounging around wasn't an option.

Not that any of the genin would have lounged around. The ANBU library was usually off-limits, and the fact that they'd been given free rein to look around was an opportunity too good to pass up.

Sakura immediately headed toward the medical section. After a month of working with Anko-sensei she knew the value of being able to heal oneself, and maybe she could find something really painful to use on her sadistic former sensei. Not that she would ever be allowed to use it, but dreaming about it would be fun.

Shikamaru wandered around the library looking at different topics, most of which seemed pretty boring until he came upon a book of seals. The logic and complexity of the art enraptured him, and his mind came alive as he worked through the detailed formulas.

After sitting down Shikamaru and Sakura were soon fully immersed in their areas of study. That is, until they realized Naruto had not joined them. They looked around for him and eventually found him staring at a book about Bijuu and their past jinchuuriki. Both Shikamaru and Sakura looked subdued. "What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked in a quiet voice.

Naruto's head jerked towards his two teammates in surprise, then he sighed and went back to staring at the book. "I feel like I need to learn more about Kyuubi and being a jinchuuriki. It's my responsibility right?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "If you feel that way what's the problem?"

Naruto's face took on a haunted look. "Right now I know nothing about being a jinchuuriki. What if I don't like what I learn?"

Sakura put her hand on her blond teammate's shoulder. "Knowing is still better than not knowing." She gave him an encouraging smile. "Besides, no matter what you learn we'll still be here for you."

Naruto sighed and with a hesitant hand reached for the book. His hand once again froze in doubt, but then with a determined look he pulled the book from its resting place. With his teammates' support Naruto's newest goal became learning everything he could about the bijuu, how to create jinchuuriki, and the jinchuuriki themselves.

Omake:

This one-shot goes so well with my story that I secured permission from its author, Nex-thanarak, to use it.

Clothes Make the Gai

Naruto was just returning from a visit with Iruka-sensei when he saw a bunch of his friends leaning on the balcony above the main Ninja Academy building. Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, and Tenten were all in a tight huddle, while Neji whispered to them fiercely. Naruto greeted them happily and jumped up onto the roof, only to find that Neji had gone silent and all five of them were staring at him expressionlessly.

"Oi, Neji!" Naruto called, pointing at the older ninja. "What are you guys talking about that you get quiet when I walk by?"

Neji stared coolly at his finger for a moment, then lifted those disconcerting pupilless eyes to meet his. "It's rude to point, Naruto-kun."

Naruto frowned. "Hey, what kind of answer is that? I'm pointing at you so you know I'm talking to you. Now what were you guys talking about?"

"You said my name, baka. Of course I know you're talking to me." Naruto just stared back at him, and Neji sighed. "My honored Elders have told me that when you point at a man, three fingers point back at you."

Naruto looked down at his hand. "Oh yeah? Well my thumb is pointing at the ground. I guess that means that if you don't tell me what you guys were talking about you, me, and the ground are going to be meeting up real soon." He fell into a fighting stance.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead with his palm. "Mendokusai, Neji. If the idiot wants to join the mission let him. We can probably trust him to keep his mouth shut."

"Oi!" Naruto shouted. "You can absolutely trust me to keep my mouth shut about this mission!"

Shikamaru rubbed at his temples with his fingers in a slow, calming circle. "Then why don't you get over here and stop shouting it to the world?" he said as patiently as he could.

"Oh. Heh heh, sorry." Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, Naruto sauntered over to the railing and leaned against it across from Hinata, who immediately dropped her eyes to the railing and began poking her index fingers together in front of her, turning a bright red.

"H-hello, N-naruto-kun," she said quietly.

Naruto looked around the group. "All right, what's going on?"

Neji cleared his throat, looking a bit irritated. "We were just setting a meeting time to brief for a mission I asked Shikamaru to help me plan. It's going to be A-rank level, involving jonin, and absolute secrecy is required. Since you decided to tag along I guess I'll have to give you the details of when we're meeting, too."

"Cool!" Naruto said, leaning forward excitedly. "Just tell me where and when! Are we going far for this mission? Who's the target?"

. . . . .

As Naruto watched Choji, sitting across from him, scarf down barbecue, he couldn't help but feel a bit let down about this so-called "secret meeting place". "Couldn't we have at least met at Ichiraku's and had ramen?" he asked.

The rest of the group ignored him. Choji was the only new addition to the group that he'd interrupted on the balcony of the Ninja Academy, and they were all sitting in a corner booth far from the other diners in the BBQ Restaurant.

Shikamaru, after waiting for the waitress to leave after dropping off another order, looked around cautiously then took out a stack of ninja cards and began passing them around. "This is the mission outline, the route we'll take infiltrating the target, and the people who will be a threat to our mission's success."

Naruto eagerly snatched up his card, turned it over, and then stared at it in disbelief. "Is this a joke?" he demanded. There was a map with the layout of the apartment complex where many of the single shinobi of the village had their rooms, with a red line showing their route through it. Below it were pictures of Rock Lee and Gai-sensei. As he read the mission outline his disbelief grew. "Wait wait wait. Our A-ranked Mission is _stealing Gai-sensei's clothes?_"

"Nobody recruited you for this, Naruto," Kiba said impatiently. "If you don't want to help the door's over there, and nobody will care if you leave through it."

"I will," Hinata peeped in a tiny voice, turning red when ten pairs of eyes turned on her. Choji still had all his attention on his plate, and didn't seem to be hearing a word of the conversation.

Naruto raised his hands quickly. "It's not that I don't want to help. Just, why exactly are we doing this, and who ordered it?"

Shikamaru pulled a tiny copy of the Konohagakure Ninja Rulebook out of a hidden pocket in his uniform, flipping through the pages until he found the one he was looking for. "Article C, Subsection 3a, under the "Responsible Citizen Act". Ahem." He cleared his throat. "As it behooves all good shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves to take action for the betterment of the village and the people therein, should any injustice or wrongdoing be perpetrated in your sight it is lawful that you apprehend the offender and bring them before the Hokage for judgment. Failing this, to right the wrong is the least of the duties you should perform."

"And this applies how?" Naruto asked.

Tenten spoke up from where she sat between Hinata and Neji. "Imagine Gai-sensei in that horrible green skintight spandex suit of his, stretching in every conceivable position during training." Naruto actually did imagine that, and immediately wished he hadn't. Tenten nodded with satisfaction at the horrified expression on his face. "You have no idea how lucky you are, having a jonin sensei who dresses the way he's supposed to."

"With someone like Kurenai-sensei the unique uniform she wears is more than fine with me," Shikamaru said, in a way that made Hinata and Kiba both glare at him. He either didn't notice or pretended not to. "But Gai-sensei's attire is something nobody wants to see. With the possible exception of Lee, whose uniform is just as bad."

"All right," Naruto said reluctantly. "So I can understand wanting to see him wearing something different. Haven't you tried just asking?"

"What, asking?" Tenten said, big brown eyes widening in mock surprise. "What a remarkable idea. I wish one of us had thought of it first! Think of all the time we wasted planning this operation when the simple solution was just staring us in the face all this time!"

Naruto shrugged. "Guess that's that, then. Glad I could help."

"Don't be stupid, Naruto," Neji said. "Of course we've asked. Numerous times. We've also requested, plead, demanded, threatened, wheedled, whined, and bargained. Gai-sensei believes his hideous green clothes are the epitome of youthful exuberance, and anything we say against them is a sign of our own waning youthfulness. It's completely absurd, but until you've tried to argue a point with the brick wall that is Maito Gai I don't want to hear a word of complaint out of you."

"Fine," Naruto said, leaning back and crossing his eyes. "I've played plenty of pranks before anyway."

"This isn't a prank," Shikamaru said sternly. "This is a service to Konoha. Now shut up." He tapped his card impatiently. "Our target is the jonin-level apartments, specifically number 5b on the fourth floor where Gai-sensei sleeps. We have a very narrow window of opportunity tonight for this mission to work. Since our goal is to deprive him of his entire wardrobe, and he generally wears his green spandex uniforms whenever he is outside his rooms, finding a time in which we could catch him wearing _anything_ else, allowing us to for sure steal all his uniforms, was a bit difficult.

"Thankfully the jonin sensei meet together to brief the Hokage on the status of their teams every two weeks. This meeting lasts two hours, and as a sign of respect for the Lady Tsunade Gai-sensei always wears a formal jonin uniform, perhaps the only normal clothes he possesses. We have two hours, tonight, in which to get into his apartments without being seen, steal his uniforms, and take them somewhere secluded and burn them."

"Burn them?" Naruto repeated dubiously. "Isn't that going a bit too-"

"Burn them!" Neji and Tenten interrupted simultaneously, their expressions frighteningly intense.

Naruto raised his hands quickly. "Okay, okay. I haven't had to look at them for hours every day, so what do I know?"

"Surprisingly little," Shikamaru said matter-of-factly. "Choji will guard the front doors. Neji will form the rearguard and cover our escape route, which will be the stairs at the north end of the hallway. Kiba, you'll watch the south end of the hall. Everyone else is with me in breaking into Gai-sensei's room and finding every single spandex unitard he owns. Remember, people, time is of the essence here."

. . . . .

"Come on, Shikamaru," Naruto whined. "What happened to "time is of the essence?" Shikamaru ignored him, remaining motionless to one side of the door to Apartment 5b while carefully scrutinizing it for traps. "Why are you wasting all our time here? What kind of person booby traps his own house in the middle of his own secure village?"

The shuffling from the people behind him completely stopped, and Naruto turned to find everyone staring at him in disbelief. "Um, a shinobi?" Tenten said.

Naruto flushed. "Well all right. For most of our sensei I would agree, but this is Gai-sensei we're talking about. Bushy Brows Senior doesn't know the meaning of the word paranoia."

Shikamaru, brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to thread a string through a kunai's loop in preparation for some probe of the door's unseen defenses, hissed in annoyance when it missed for the third time in a row. He turned to Naruto angrily. "All right, baka. If you can't be content with staying quiet while I take sensible precautions to keep us all alive, maybe _you'd_ like to be the first through the door."

Naruto beamed. "About time you asked," he said. He formed the proper seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A perfect copy of himself appeared at his side, drew a senbon from his pouch, and strode forward confidently. Easing past Shikamaru his Kage Bunshin knelt in front of the door and began picking the lock with the slender needle.

Neji, forming the rearguard with his Byakugan just behind Hinata, pressed his face into his palm wearily. "Of course," he muttered. "Only Naruto would decide it's much faster to just trigger any traps with a shadow clone." He formed the proper hand signs his team used, signaling retreat, and Tenten touched Kiba and Shikamaru on the shoulder, then began backing away. Neji tapped his cousin's arm, and when she jumped slightly and turned to him with wide eyes he motioned for her to back up as well. If Naruto was going to just charge in as usual, he didn't want to be standing close enough to any major traps when they triggered.

Of course, the blond genin _did_ have a point. Neji had trained under Gai-sensei for two years now, and had never seen him show the slightest suspicion about anything...

About that time the door exploded and half a hundred kunai flew through the splintered remains, burying in the wall on the other side of the hallway in a solid square. Naruto's shadow clone gave a cry of pain as it was pinned to the wall by a dozen kunai stuck through it, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

In the perfect silence that followed a single piece of paper drifted through the doorway and landed in the middle of the hall.

Neji, who had thrown himself protectively in front of Hinata as was his duty, muttered a curse under his breath and moved cautiously towards the paper, using his Byakugan to watch for further traps. Without needing to look he drew a kunai from his belt and tied a thread to it, then threw it at the paper and cautiously fished it back to where he knelt. It was a single page, fine rice paper, with this short message written on it:

"Oi, my Most Honored Rival!

So you thought you would try to sneak into my rooms while I was away, did you? I hope my glorious Thousand Knives of Impenetrable Defense trap showed you otherwise!"

He was aware of loud breathing by his ear, his Byakugan informing him that Naruto was leaning over his shoulder reading. "Bushy Brows Senior has a rival?" the blond genin asked with confusion.

Tenten groaned. "_That's_ why he set this trap?"

Naruto turned to look at her. "What's why? Who's his rival?"

The brown-haired kunoichi sighed in annoyance. "Of course Kakashi-sensei didn't think it necessary to tell you. Every day we have to listen to Gai-sensei moaning and fretting about his rivalry, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Kakashi-sensei sees the entire thing as a complete joke." Naruto continued to stare at her in confusion. "Kakashi is Gai's rival, idiot!" she snapped.

Naruto hunched his shoulders, looking hurt. "You could have just said it without treating it like some huge mystery." Turning away from Tenten he made another Kage Bunshin. The shadow clone, sulking as much as the original, strode through the door in search of other traps.

It blew back into the hall in front of a massive fireball, uttering nearly the exact same cry the previous one had as it vanished in smoke.

Shikamaru put his face in his hands. "Mendokusai," he groaned. "How many traps did Gai-sensei set?"

"Well I think we can rule out stealth and secrecy on this one," Kiba called as doors all along the hallway were thrown open and masked shinobi poured out, weapons at ready.

. . . . .

Whistling cheerfully, Maito Gai bounded up the stairs to his apartment. It always pleased him when he had good news to present to the Lady Hokage, and for this meeting he could gladly report that his team was showing great initiative and drive! He almost felt like weeping for joy when he thought of their youthful faces set in determination to succeed no matter how difficult the challenge.

The fourth floor hallway was surprisingly quiet as he made his way down it his door, which in the spirit of this youthful evening was looking finer than it ever had! Even the paint coating the hallway around his room looked fresher and brighter than the rest, as if to personally congratulate him for his successes.

He disabled his clever traps and threw open the door, making a tight frontflip through the one opening through his inner defenses. He was far too honorable to sneak into Kakashi-san's room, but he wouldn't put it past his sneaky most honorable rival to try something like that, so he was prepared. "A ninja is always prepared!" he said to the empty room. It seemed to agree with him, all the furniture looking newer and better and even the carpet and paint seeming finer than when he'd left, as if in anticipation of his return.

He made his way into his room, throwing the cumbersome jacket of his formal uniform onto his bed, and yanked open his closet.

It was empty.

"Oh?" Gai said, poking his head into the tiny space and looking around curiously. "Am I out of spare uniforms already?"

It seemed he was. Even the uniform he'd tossed onto the bed had mysteriously disappeared. He noticed that they had a way of doing that, and far more often that he would ever have expected. But no matter. Stepping into the closet he ran his hand along one of the back panels until he found the one he was looking for, and pressed on it firmly in two different places. The back of his closet slid away smoothly, courtesy of his brilliant counterweight system.

On the other side of the closet wall lay the apartment next to his, which he'd rented along with his own. Stacked wall to wall within the two hundred square foot space, all the way up to the ceiling in most places, were thousands more spandex uniforms all still wrapped in the plastic he'd purchased them in.

"A ninja is always prepared!"

. . . . .

"Thanks again," Shikamaru said as the last of the uniforms was thrown onto the bonfire.

Neji had brought along marshmallows and sticks to roast them on, anticipating a celebratory bonfire with the hated uniforms. Unfortunately none of them had anticipated just how toxic burning spandex was, and the smoke had forced them all to back away a dozen yards, coughing and with tears streaming from their eyes. That hadn't stopped him from handing out the marshmallows anyway, since this _was_ cause for celebration.

"Really," Shikamaru continued, taking a handful of marshmallows and passing them along to the ninja next to him. "We would have failed utterly without your help."

"No problem," the cat-faced ANBU beside him said, taking his own marshmallows and with some effort managing to sneak them into his mouth under his mask. "It's really about time somebody did it."

Around the fire a large circle of shinobi watched the flames consume the horrid green uniforms, mesmerized. A good half of them wore ANBU masks, and many of the others were jonin. With their help they'd managed to disarm the rest of the traps, repair the damage the previous traps had done, get the uniforms out, and then rearm the traps so everything looked as good as new. It was amazing to see just how large a disparity in skill there was between he and his team and the efficient shinobi who'd aided them. Shikamaru resolved to spend lots more time studying traps in the future.

"You know it's not going to make any difference, don't you?" an ANBU with a painted boar's mask across the fire from them called.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked, sounding far more panicked by the notion than the situation warranted.

Another of the ANBU chuckled. "You think you're the first one to think of this? It's a great party and all, but believe me when I say that Maito Gai possesses an overabundance of the irrepressible spirit of Konoha. So too, it seems, do his uniforms."

Tenten stared at the ANBU, looking on the verge of tears. "You mean not even this is going to stop him from coming to training tomorrow dressed in that horrible green spandex?"

"It hasn't yet," the boar-masked ANBU said.

"Hey, give me some of those marshmallows!" Naruto called from across the fire as Neji and Tenten both put their heads in their hands in despair.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey all! Sorry I'm late updating this week, but it has been crazy busy. On that note, On Monday school starts for me and I'll be working 2 jobs so updating is gonna become a bit sporadic, but I promise there will be an awesome battle scene in chapter 13. So hopefully that will make up for it not coming out on schedule.

Chapter 12

It was a bright and early monday morning when the three genin of team psych met up in front of ANBU HQ to find out what lessons their sensei would make them focus on this week. The genin didn't really get a chance to greet each other because as soon as they were a group Ibiki-sensei showed up with Inoichi-sensei and Anko-sensei behind him. At the appearance of their sensei the three genin came to attention. Ibiki gave them an approving nod and got down to business, "This week you'll be learning about how to interrogate someone, and next week you'll learn how to resist interrogation. For the rest of this week you will once again be working with individual sensei. You'll be working with the sensei whose interrogation style is most likely to match your own. Sakura you'll be working with Anko since you both have a particular fondness for hurting people." Sakura gulped and gave Anko a nervous look. "Naruto you'll work with Inoichi to learn the subtleties of emotional manipulation since you already have a tremendous amount of skill in that area. Shikamaru you'll be working with me since I have a fondness for screwing over the mind, and I think you'll be good at that. Now get working." With that the 3 different groups headed of to 3 interrogation rooms for the lessons.

.

At the end of the week the genin of team psych got together to talk about they'd learned. With Naruto going first, "I've seen Inoichi-sensei interrogate someone before but even after you've seen it it's still just as cool. He basically sweet talks the info out of them by making the prisoner trust him completely, and he showed me how to do it! He even let me fly solo on an interrogation so I could get a better grasp of the technique!"

A bored Shikamaru went next, "I wasn't all that impressed with Ibiki-sensei's methods. He basically breaks the person's mind by adding stress on top of stress until the person's willing to talk just to get some relief. It's very effective, but not my style. I prefer making the person so confused they don't whether they're giving me important information or not. Sensei let me try my method this week and it worked well for a test run, but it will need a lot of polishing to make it an effective interrogation technique."

Both Shikamaru and Naruto turned to look at their final teammate, "Well Sakura, what did you learn?" Naruto asked with a grin

Sakura gave a shudder, "I learned that Anko-sensei is nuts."

Shikamaru gave a snort, "You already knew that."

The pink haired girl glared at her teammate, "Well now I know for sure! I'll prove it! This is what she did on the _first day._

FLASHBACK

Sakura was leaning against the wall in interrogation room 7 watching Anko-sensei clean her nails with a kunai while they waited for 2 ANBU to bring in the prisoner.

The ANBU finally brought in the prisoner, and strapped him onto a metal chair in the middle of the room then saluted Anko-sensei and left. Anko-sensei was still cleaning her nails and didn't seem as if she'd be starting anytime soon so Sakura took the time to study the prisoner. It was a really, well, pathetic looking guy. He looked all squirrelly and weak and like he wouldn't be hard to break at all.

Sakura was pulled away from her study when Anko-sensei sighed, pushed herself away from the wall, and started walking around the prisoner "You've been giving my subordinates all sorts of trouble haven't you? In fact the only thing they _think _they know is that you're from Kiri, but they got that from your hitie-ate and we both know how easy it is to get one of those," Anko sat on the arm of the chair and leaned in to whisper in the guys ear, "don't we?" Anko pulled away from the guys ear but stayed seated, "Since we don't know anything about you why don't we start with something simple?" Anko reached out and brushed her finger down the guys cheek as she breathlessly said, "So what's your name shark bait?"

The prisoner sneered, "You really think I'm gonna tell you anything slut? Why don't you do the world a favor and go off yourself?"

Anko gave a feral laugh, "Oh hearing you talk like that makes me-," the jonin took in a breath and gave the prisoner an intense look, "hungry."

The prisoner pulled back into his chair to get away from Anko's intense look, "What are you talking about lady?"

The jonin leaned in and liked her lips, "When men talk to me like that it makes me hungry... for their blood." Anko pulled out a kunai and moved the flat side against the guy's cheek, "I want... to make you bleed," the jonin took the kunai away from the guy's face and rested the sharp part against her thumb, "like this." With a quick movement Anko made a deep cut on her thumb. Then threw back her head as if she were in ecstasy, and when she brought eyes back to her prey they were filled with hungry pleasure.

The prisoner tried to push himself even back in the chair as he fearfully shouted, "Get away from me you crazy whore!"

Anko's gave a predatory smile, "Now didn't I tell you talking like that made me hungry? It's getting harder and harder to not try that blood of yours. So unless you distract me with something else, like maybe the information I want, I'll just have to try that blood."

The guy was shaking in fear as he shouted, "All right! Ask anything you want I'll answer just stay away from me!"

That's all Sakura saw before she ran out of the room to throw up.

END FLASHBACK

Sakura's 2 teammates stared at her in disbelief as Naruto shakily said, "Remind to never ever get on Anko-sensei's bad side.

. . . .

Naruto was sitting in training ground 24 waiting for Danzo to come and show him the next step in his elemental training. It had taken him 2 weeks to figure out how to cut the leaf, and he knew the next step would no doubt be harder but he couldn't wait to learn it. He was getting board waiting for Danzo but he distracted himself by looking around the training ground. It was a big training ground that was one of the farthest from city center, but the thing that made this training ground truly unique was that in was the only training ground with a waterfall that genin were aloud into. As he stared at the waterfall Naruto pondered why Danzo would want to meet in this training ground, and not one of the ones that were closer. Before he could come up with a proper theory Danzo appeared, "Good morning Naruto. I hope your ready to begin your training?"

The genin jumped to his feet, "You bet! What's the next step?"

Danzo gave a small smile and pointed to the waterfall, "The next step is to cut through that waterfall using only wind chakra.", Danzo paused and watched as Naruto's face dropped into a look of shock while the boy considered just how challenging that task would be, "This next step will not be easy, although I think you will have an easier time with it than most. After you finish this step you will be able to use wind chakra and the only limiter you'll have will be your how far your creativity can go. By finishing this step you will be able to do anything you can think of for wind to do. Not that you will be able to do it right away, but you will have the groundwork to build your wind affinity into whatever you want it to be."

Naruto was brimming with excited energy, "All right! What do I have to do for this exercise!"

"This exercise follows the same basic idea as cutting the leaf. You do the same thing with your chakra, but to cut the waterfall you need to add a tone of power. The first exercise was about control this exercise is about adding power while keeping that control once you can do that you have completed this exercise, and will, at the very least be able to coat your throwing weapons in wind chakra which will make them much shaper and stronger, but you will also be able to start making your own wind manipulation jutsu. Now as I said this exercise will not be easy, so you should get started as soon as possible."

"Will do!",Naruto shouted as he started heading toward the waterfall, "Thanks Bandaid!"

Danzo looked surprised at his new nickname, but after a moment his surprised look faded into a smile and he let out a small laugh.

. . . .

Ibiki and Gai sat together at the edge of training ground 10 watching their 2 genin teams train together. Sakura was teaching Tenten how to make a paralytic poison that Anko-sensei had taught her as a reward for good behavior. Tenten's eyes were lit up as she thought of how much more effective her weapons would be now.

Shikamaru and Lee were sparing. Lee was having fun running around like a chicken with its head cut of while avoiding all of his sparing partner's shadows. Meanwhile Shikamaru's mind was racing with ideas for how he could trap Lee.

Naruto and Neji were also sparing. Naruto was working on strategies where he could use his shape-shifting, and Neji was gritting his teeth at having such an unpredictable opponent. Naruto shifted into the form of a bear and swiped at Neji with his massive paw. The jyuuken specialist crouched to avoid the attack and then twisted to the side to jab the bear in the ribs with a jyuuken thrust. But right before the attack hit Naruto disappeared, and, for an instant, Neji froze in surprise. Before Neji had a chance to respond to his opponent's disappearance he felt a sharp pain on his hand and looked down to see a small red fox biting him. Neji frowned and jerked his hand to the side to dislodge the pesky creature that was, no doubt, Naruto. The fox flew from the force of Neji's throw but it didn't seem all that concerned with the fact that it was flying through the air, instead it seemed to be hissing and spitting in disgust. As the little creature landed on its feet the fox disappeared in a small puff of smoke and in its place stood Naruto, who had a disgusted look on his face and was still spitting, "Gross! Blood!"

Neji raised an eyebrow at Naruto's strange behavior, but decided to take advantage of his opponent's distraction while he still could. So, with as much speed as he could muster, Neji rushed forward prepared to give the finishing blow.

Naruto saw Neji's approach and acting on instinct put his hands in the cross seal and gathered the amount of chakra that would be needed to create a wall of clones between Neji and himself. The chakra was almost to the level that would be needed for the technique when suddenly all the chakra drained away and Naruto found himself staring at Sakura and Tenten who he knew had been behind him when he started his technique. Naruto was confused and didn't quite know what to do as he said, "Huh? What happened, and how did I get all turned around?"

Neji had mere inches to go to land the finishing blow on Naruto when the blond suddenly disappeared again and in Naruto's place was... an exact copy of himself, right down to the activated Byakugan that was staring at him with wide eyes. Although Neji knew the Byakugan Naruto had did not actually work it was still unnerving to see it in the eyes of a non-Hyuuga. The surprise of seeing himself and the unnerving stare Naruto was giving his caused Neji to hesitate, but only for a moment before the jyuuken specialist thrust forth his hand to finish this fight when he herd Naruto's statement, and Neji froze centimeters from landing his strike on the chakra point that would put an end to Naruto's ability to do jutsus and instead looked into his opponent's eyes in confusion. Naruto had asked how he had gotten turned around and yet it was very clear to Neji that the boy had not moved at all. As Neji stared into Naruto's eyes he began to realize that Naruto eyes looked much like a blind mans would in that they were not focusing on anything in front of him, and yet Naruto did not act as if he could not see, but rather as if he could only see what was behind him which should be impossible unless- Neji jerked in surprise and focused the full power of his own Byakugan on Naruto's eyes as a most disturbing thought entered his mind. As he stared Neji was surprised to see chakra going into Naruto's eyes as if he too had a bloodline activated there, but that was impossible. With an voice filled with anxiety Neji asked, "Naruto, what exactly do you see?"

Naruto looked confused at Neji asking that question as it should be obvious but never-the-less answered, "I see Sakura and Tenten throwing kunai at some targets. Why?"

Neji quickly looked behind Naruto to see if what Naruto had said was true and sunk to his knees in shock as he saw Sakura and Tenten, "Impossible," he whispered, "It's just not possible."

Naruto grew concerned as he herd the shock in Neji's voice, "Hey are you OK Neji?"

Neji jerked his head up to more clearly see Naruto and said, "Naruto, I want you to try something and its gonna sound crazy, but try it anyway. Ok?" Naruto looked really confused but still agreed to go along with Neji, and with this reassurance Neji continued, "I want you to try to look at me with out moving anything but your eyes."

While Naruto was wearing a very strange look, but still keeping his promise and trying to do as Neji had asked, the 2 sensei were watching this scene with stunned amazement, "Ibiki-san, did your student just get my students bloodline?" Gai asked in a surprisingly quiet voice.

Ibiki looked at the scene before him with a wonder that was quickly turning to excitement, "I believe he did Gai." Ibiki could barely contain his eagerness. He must have done something very good in a past life to be blessed with a student so perfect for information gathering. If this was connected to his other ability and gave his ability to _use _other peoples bloodlines then there was nowhere his student couldn't go.

It was at about this point that Naruto realized he could in fact see Neji without moving anything but his eyes, and while he found that very weird he was more intrigued by the blue lines that appeared to be running through his body. Naruto couldn't contain his surprise as he shouted out, "Whoa! Neji, where did all those blue lines come from!"

At hearing Naruto's statement Ibiki felt his euphoria come crashing down around him. He had a student who could literally be whoever he wanted to be and the student who was blessed with this remarkable ability had to be his densest student. He must have done something terrible in a past life to be so cursed with the waters of tantalis.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N-I'd like to thank Nex-Thanarak for what they wrote in this chapter, which was almost everything. :) Also sorry before this chapter was posted with both chapter 12 and 13, sorry about that. It's been fixed now.

Chapter 13

Naruto stumbled to a halt at the team's appointed meeting spot, yawning hugely and rubbing at one eye. Big stupid surprise, that he'd gotten up when he was supposed to to make the meeting and neither of his teammates were here yet.

Well, to be fair he'd gotten up a lot earlier than he was supposed to, too excited about the prospect of their first mission to sleep any longer. He'd spent a while tossing and turning in bed before finally getting up, tired but not sleepy and with grainy eyes.

"Great," he muttered, sitting down with his back against the wall of a nearby shop. A moment later Sakura came around the corner.

"Hi, Naruto-kun!" she called, waving. Naruto waved back, not exactly enthusiastically. Things had been better between them since she'd apologized and he'd accepted it, but it was still awkward when they were alone together. He'd almost found it easier when he was pretending to have a crush on her. At least he knew what to say, then.

So they spent the next few minutes in uncomfortable silence until finally Shikamaru dropped down from a rooftop across the street. He was fully geared for a mission, and had his longbow strapped across his back. Naruto leapt to his feet. "Oi, Shikamaru, what's the big idea calling an early meeting and then showing up late? It's not like the mission doesn't start early enough as it is!"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Sorry. Had to do a few things beforehand."

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "What's this about, anyway?"

"About today's mission, obviously." Shikamaru knelt, pulled several folders out of his pack, and spread them on the ground. "Take a look at these, guys."

Naruto knelt and opened one of the folders. It was a personnel dossier for Uchiha Sasuke, with a picture of him in the top left corner and several pages of information. He shut it and opened the next one to see a picture of Inuzuka Kiba, with a smaller picture of a white dog. There was also one for Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. Naruto looked up. "What are these about?"

"Our purpose," Shikamaru said calmly. "We're part of the T&I squad, and one of our main goals is gathering information. Even if it's information we might not need, we have it ready."

"Why these people?" Sakura asked, lingering for a moment over Sasuke's picture before slamming the folder shut with a shudder and a guilty look around.

"Our mission today will be a joint operation with three other teams. Along with these four, we'll also be working with Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino."

"How do you know that?" Sakura demanded.

Shikamaru smiled. "Information gathering," he said.

Sakura frowned down at the folders. "Do you know what the mission will be?"

The Nara hesitated. "Well no," he admitted.

Naruto frowned. "If we're going to be working with so many people why don't we have folders for the others?"

"We don't need them. I've worked closely with Choji, Neji, Lee, and Tenten, and Sakura is former friends with Ino. That should give us all the information we'll need." Shikamaru hesitated. "Before we begin our briefing about the attributes of our allies, we need to talk about something else."

"Why Tenten has no last name?" Naruto suggested helpfully.

Shikamaru sighed. "Mendokusai, Naruto, that really doesn't matter to our current purpose. What we need to talk about is how we're going to present ourselves to the others."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked with a frown.

"Well it's like this. Thanks to the special training we've been given under Ibiki-sensei and our interim sensei we've far surpassed the level we were at when we graduated the Academy. The other teams, however, have been actively engaged in D and C-rank missions, allowing them less time to focus on their training."

Naruto frowned. "_I'd_ like to be going on missions," he muttered.

"You can hardly call what our teammates have been doing real missions. In fact we've been using our time far better than our classmates. And from what I know about Team Gai, which comprises Neji, Tenten, and Lee, we're already approaching their skill level and they're a year ahead of us. Of the others only Sasuke is a mystery, but I doubt he's at our level."

"So?" Sakura said, turning a bit pink at the mention of Sasuke.

"So I went off on a bit of a tangent, but my point is that we're at a higher level than most of the others, and we don't want them to know that."

Naruto scratched his head, puzzled. "Why not? _I _want to show them how strong I've gotten."

"That's not going to happen, Naruto. We're part of the T&I squad, which is nearly as secretive as ANBU. The T&I handbook states that no unnecessary information should be given out, even to allies." Shikamaru paused, then looked away a bit guiltily and rubbed his cheek. "I'll admit I have a bit of an ulterior motive, though." The other two just stared at him, confused. "The Chuunin Exams are coming up. Normally we'd have to wait at least a year to participate in them, but with the way we've been progressing I think we all have a shot at making chuunin this time around. There's a chance the others in today's mission might progress far enough to where they'll attempt the exam as well, and that means we'll be competing against them. Certainly Team Gai will. I'd prefer it if they didn't know anything about us while we know everything about them."

Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks. "I didn't even know anything about the exams," Naruto admitted.

"Now you do. The point is that when we're around the others I think it would be a good idea to appear far more incompetent than we are. Thankfully that shouldn't be difficult for any of us based on the way we were perceived in the ninja academy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura said with a scowl.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well everybody thinks Naruto is a loudmouthed oaf. And most people see you as selfish, violent, unlikable, bossy, conceited, completely smitten with Sasuke, bookish, and loud. Also you get into silly rivalries."

Sakura was staring at him with her lips set in a tight line. "How come you only had two bad things to say about Naruto, and like ten bad things to say about me?" she said in a dangerously calm voice.

Shikamaru shrugged again. "Just presenting the facts. And of course everybody thinks I'm lazy and unmotivated."

"I get it," Naruto said with a laugh. "So we just keep pretending to be what we were?"

"Exactly, although Sakura might want to tone it down a bit for her part."

"I'm about to tone it up if you don't quit with the insults!" Sakura said fiercely.

"Don't worry, as long as everyone knows their roles we're done with that part of it." Shikamaru opened Sasuke's folder. "Let's get started on the briefing about our other allies."

. . . .

The sun was rising over Konoha as Naruto arrived at the mission's meeting place. The team had split up after briefing on their allies to make a few last-minute preparations, and Naruto had taken the opportunity to gather some more equipment. If twelve people were going to be involved in this mission it probably wasn't going to be anything small, and he wanted to be prepared.

When he rounded the corner he saw all of his graduating class and the team from the year ahead gathered at the meeting spot with their sensei. It looked like Shikamaru had been right about that, then, although he'd never doubted it.

His own team and sensei were there, and when Naruto saw them he nearly burst out laughing. Shikamaru was hiding behind Ibiki-sensei with a scared look on his face as he stared at a jonin wearing full-body spandex (shudder). The strange jonin was ranting about he must give his youthful temporary student a manly hug of reunion. Shikamaru gave a small cry of fright and hid further behind Ibiki-sensei. Ibiki-sensei gave a long-suffering sigh at being used as a shield, but looking closely Naruto could see his amusement at the situation. Sakura was doubled over laughing as she said "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Shika. But you're right, he may just be as bad as Anko-sensei."

Naruto laughed as he made his way over to his team. "Hora, Shikamaru, Ibiki-sensei, Sakura!" The blond genin bounded over to stand in front of his sensei. Time to start on his idiot routine. "So what are we doing today, Sensei? Are we gonna go on a mission? Do we get to rescue a princess?"

Kiba heard Naruto's loud questions. Well actually everyone heard him, but Kiba was the one who responded. "Please. Rescue a princess? You are such a dobe, Naruto. Haven't you ever been on a D-rank mission?"

Shikamaru and Sakura narrowed their eyes at Kiba's statement, but stayed silent for the moment.

Naruto shrugged. "No, what's a D-rank like?"

Kiba shuddered. "They're like glorified house chores: weeding gardens, painting things, etc. They suck! But what the heck have you been doin' for the past month if you ain't been goin' on missions?"

The whiskered genin narrowed his eyes, and said in a cold voice "Training." Then he turned his back on Kiba and went to talk to Shikamaru, while all the other genin teams there stared at Naruto in shock.

Ibiki smiled. He was proud of his student for showing a bit of his true self. Then he whistled to get the attention of everyone there. Once everyone was looking at him he spoke. "Hokage-sama has approved a test to see how well the newest genin of Company 1, as well as Team 9, handle working together on a surprise mission. Therefore you will all be sent on a mission together. The objective is to capture and A-rank nuke-nin, and incapacitate the bandit group he's leading."

Shikamaru looked confused. "Sensei!"

Ibiki turned his attention to his student. "Yes?"

"Will this mission require killing?" Shikamaru asked.

Ibiki shook his head. "I'm aware that the only genin here who have had their first kills are Team 9. Therefore you will only be required to go for knockout blows. The bandits are all low level and after you're done with this mission we'll send a cleanup crew."

Shikamaru gave his sensei a nod and listened carefully as the assembled group was given the finer details of the mission.

. . . .

The 12 genin had traveled for 2 days to get to the bandit camp. They were currently about 5 miles from the camp. And arguing.

"We're a tracking team, morons!" Kiba shouted. "We should be the ones to scout the camp!"

"Yeah tracking, not scouting you smelly mutt," Ino replied with a sniff. "Sasuke-kun should be the one to go. He's the best of all of us!"

"Tracking and scouting are the same thing you airhead blond!" Kiba shouted back. On his head Akamaru gave an agreeing bark.

"Neji should go," Tenten said from where Team 9 lounged. "His Byakugan will make it easy for him to scout the camp."

With every team pretty much arguing that they should go, the group quickly descended into yelling at that point. It couldn't even rationally be called an argument, since nobody could hear what anyone else was saying.

"SHUT UP!" Everyone froze and turned to stare at Naruto, who looked dead serious. "Nobody is going to scout." Everyone stared at him for a moment in sheer disbelief, and then Kiba snorted and began laughing loudly. Soon everyone was laughing with Kiba, even Naruto. After everyone had calmed down a bit Naruto said "what I meant was that no one has to go. Shino can send his bugs and they'll have the easiest time scouting without being seen."

All of Naruto's companions were staring at him in surprise.

"That's actually a pretty good idea," Ino said, sounding surprised.

"Did the dobe actually grow a brain?" Sasuke added.

Kiba grunted. "No way Naruto came up with that. Sakura probably...no, she's only smart with books. Well then Shikamaru must have...nah, he's too lazy." The Inuzuka rounded on Naruto. "Since when did you get a brain?"

Sakura snorted. "Naruto's always had a brain. _You _were just too dumb to notice, Kiba."

The feral genin snarled at Sakura, and Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn't expected Sakura of all people to come to his defense.

Shikamaru cleared his throat. "I think we're getting off topic. Shino, would you send your bugs out to scout the camp?"

Shino nodded, raised his arms, and sent his bugs flying toward the bandit camp.

It was a half hour before the first of Shino's bugs returned. The Aburame held out his arms for the bugs to land on, frowned for a moment, then raised his head to look around at the eagerly waiting genin. "There are twenty bandits. Four are patrolling the perimeter of the camp and the rest are scattered among the tents. The A-rank nuke-nin is in the center tent sleeping."

"Positions?" Neji asked.

Shino knelt and began drawing a surprisingly detailed and accurate map. "These are the positions at the time my bugs came to the camp. Here's the positions of the sentries, and the routes they took while my bugs were watching them."

Shikamaru took in the map with a look of intense concentration, then squatted and placed his fingers together in his thinking pose.

"So what do we do?" Lee asked. "We can probably get around the sentries pretty easily and attack the camp directly. If we go fast enough we can capture the target before the bandits even know what hit them!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Sasuke said. "You want to rush into a situation without any sort of preparation, in a way that puts enemies at our backs? Your plan is so bad it could've come from Naruto."

"Hey!"

Shikamaru abruptly stood up. "All right, here's the plan," he said, squatting beside Shino's map and beginning to scratch lines in the dirt with a kunai.

"Hold on a second, who made you the boss here?" Kiba protested. There was no answer, only Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura, and Choji all staring at him flatly. Kiba turned to the others for help, but nobody else seemed to be protesting. Sasuke was looking at Shino's crude map with a bored expression, Neji just shrugged at him, Lee was frowning at the lines in the dirt with a puzzled expression, and Tenten was sharpening a surprisingly large pile of shurikens and kunai. Shino was looking intently at a bug in the palm of his hand. Hinata was staring at Naruto, but that was nothing unusual.

After an uncomfortably long silence Shikamaru continued as if Kiba hadn't spoken. "According to Shino's intel there are twenty bandits accompanying the target, which is an A-rank nuke-nin we've been assigned to capture. Four are on constant patrol around the perimeter of the camp, while the other sixteen are inside the camp going about various activities. Our target is inside a tent in the middle of the camp, sleeping."

"The attack assignments will be as follows. Our first priority is subduing the four sentries before they can raise the alarm. For that we'll want people who can slip up to the sentries unnoticed. One of us to each sentry would be best. Sasuke, if you have no objections your sharingan will be ideal for that. Hinata-san, the same goes for your byakugan. Tenten, I think you'd be well suited for this as well. And I'll take out the last sentry."

He began tapping points on the map with his kunai. "According to Shino's intel the sentries will be at these points when we strike. Sasuke, you'll get that one. Hinata, you take that one there. Tenten you get that one, and I'll get the one on the northeast. Once you take out your sentry give the signal and begin making your way to the camp to aid in the attack. Once all four of us have given the signal the attack will begin."

"What's the signal?" Tenten asked.

Shikamaru pointed at Shino. "Shino will have a bug riding on each of us, and when we take down the sentry we'll send the bug ahead to alert him."

Shino nodded. "Hai."

"Here is how the main attack will go. Everyone but Neji and Naruto will attack from the south side of the camp. This will serve two purposes: first it will be a surprise attack, hopefully taking out as many of the bandits as possible; second it will draw all eyes to the south, allowing Neji and Naruto to sneak into the camp from the north and capture the nuke-nin. Timing will be critical in this, you two, because if you go too soon you may be spotted by bandits, but if you wait too long the nuke-nin may join the battle, further adding to the chaos."

Neji nodded. "It's a good plan. Simple, but there's nothing wrong with that. Will Naruto be up to this assignment?"

"If he isn't you'll have to hold his hand."

That was his cue to act like an idiot. "Oi!" Naruto shouted, leaping to his feet. "I'm absolutely up to this assignment! I'll capture the target alone if I have to."

Everyone ignored him. "The main trick to this will be in timing and surprise," Shikamaru continued. "Please try not to alert the enemy to our presence until the time for the attack comes."

"Hai," everyone responded.

"Good." Shikamaru stared down at his map one last time, then stood. "Let's get into position."

. . . .

The woods were deceptively silent as Shikamaru made his way stealthily through the treetops to the area where the sentry should be passing through. Only the usual animal sounds could be heard.

Shikamaru wasn't too worried about that. The only sounds he didn't want to hear were ones he himself made. No matter how stealthy the bandit he'd set himself to subdue might be, knowing the man's patrol route was advantage enough.

When he reached the area the sentry would be passing through he moved along the route silently for a short distance until he found an ideal setup. The trees were thin enough that the only way to really patrol the area was on the ground, and there wasn't enough underbrush to properly hide. The sentry might go around such an exposed area, but Shikamaru doubted he would. This was a bandit he'd been assigned to silence, and they weren't exactly known for their skill or intelligence; if they had either of those attributes they would've found a smarter way to get money.

He found an ideal tree, one with thick enough foliage that he could hide from eyes in every direction, but through which he could see an enemy approaching along every angle. He ran up it lightly and pushed himself into a good hiding spot.

Not a moment too soon. He'd barely stopped moving when a roughly dressed man with a ragged, dirty beard strolled into sight below, making no effort to stay hidden. Perfect.

Shikamaru formed the seal for his shadow capture, thinning his shadow to an almost invisible line and sending it along the tree's shadow towards the sentry. The sentry continued on, noticing nothing, and after wavering for a moment Shikamaru's shadow surged forward and connected with the bandit's feet, thickening into a wide inky circle around them.

The bandit cursed as he was brought up short, no longer in control of his movements. "At last, Shadow Capture is a success," Shikamaru said with a smile. With calm movements he unslung his bow, and down on the ground the bandit mimicked his actions, although he of course had no bow. Swift but unhurried, feeling his chakra waning with the effort of maintaining the jutsu, Shikamaru put a blunted arrow to the string. Capture, not kill were the orders, and he didn't mind that one bit. In a single smooth motion he drew and loosed.

The bandit gave a cry of dismay as he mimicked the motions, wide eyes on the arrow streaking towards him. Shikamaru went still to keep the bandit still and waited for the arrow to hit.

At the last moment the bandit ducked away from the shaft, then dove behind a tree and disappeared.

Shikamaru stared in shock. No one had ever broken his shadow capture technique before. He hadn't even been aware it was possible. His dismay turned to alarm as he realized that made this sentry very dangerous. And while he might be the one in the most immediate danger, his teammates were in an even worse position if the other "bandits" of the camp were this powerful.

He groped along his shoulder until he found Shino's bug, plucking it from the cloth. He put it in his palm and brought it up to his face. "Go warn the others that something isn't right," he said tersely.

A moment later the branch he stood on shook slightly, and he turned just in time to take a solid blow to the right temple, knocking him off the branch to the ground below.

He was unconscious before he landed.

. . . . .

Shino, peering cautiously through the trees for any sign of his signal bugs, stiffened. "There's one!" he hissed to the others waiting in the bushes behind him. He was about to go collect it when he caught sight of a second one. "And another!" He looked around and saw the last two coming from another direction. "And the last two."

"Oah! All right, let's go!" Lee said, leaping to his feet and rushing forward. With a happy shout Kiba followed close behind, Akamaru yipping at his heels.

"Wait!" Choji hissed. "We should all go as a..." he trailed off when he saw that the others were rushing in, all except for Shino who had sent his bugs ahead and was now waiting for the four signal bugs to reach him. With a growl of annoyance Choji rushed forward. He wasn't about to sit back and wait while everyone else had their fun.

Up ahead Shino could hear the cries of surprise and alarm from the bandits in the camp, and Lee shouting as he attacked. He held out his hand for his bugs, and a moment later all four were lined up on his palm. He listened to their report silently, his face growing paler and paler.

They'd made a mistake. Assuming that the bugs would only return for a success, he hadn't anticipated that they would also return to report failure. He shook his palm and the bugs scuttled up his sleeve to a secure spot, then he took off after his allies. "Wait, everyone!" he shouted. "None of the sentries were subdued or captured!"

. . . . .

Neji heard a shout from the south end of the camp and tugged Naruto's sleeve. "Let's go," he whispered. "Quick and quiet, all right?" Naruto's only response was a firm nod. Neji was surprised the dolt wasn't taking the opportunity to make one of his headstrong statements.

Staying low to the ground, byakugan letting him see in every direction, he made his way quickly to the nearest tent and leaned himself against the side of it. A moment later Naruto pressed in beside him. With his ocular jutsu Neji could see all the bandits rushing towards the south end of the camp, and the still form of the target still lying in its tent. "We have an opening. The way to the target is clear, the target remains unmoving."

"Go," Naruto said. Neji nodded and slipped around the side of the tent, rushing through the maze of ropes and stakes to get to the center tent. He took a kunai from his pouch and cut a slit down the thick fabric, slipping into the tent. The figure remained still.

With a signal to Naruto to go around to the right, Neji moved to the left and prepared to leap. It was then that he noticed that the shape he'd thought was a person was in fact just a lump of cloth and pillows covered by a blanket. He swore and kicked the bundle, scattering silk and pillows in every direction.

"A decoy?" Naruto whispered. "Where's the real one then?"

Neji looked up, seeing the shapes locked in battle at the southern end of the camp. "Out there."

. . . . .

Shino skidded to a halt at the edge of the clearing the camp had been set up in. Among the tents he could see flashes of green as Lee, shouting with each blow, attacked two bandits at once. In another area Kiba and Akamaru had surrounded a bandit and were pressing him from both sides. Sakura and Ino were fighting back-to-back against three more enemies, Ino with a kunai and Sakura with knuckle knives on either fist. They were fighting furiously, faces tense with strain. Shino sent his bugs after those three as he ran for the camp.

From down a row of tents he heard a shout, and then Choji, enlarged as a giant ball, rolled straight towards him, causing bandits to shout and leap out of the way. A bandit appeared from inside a tent directly in front of Shino, and before he could react the man leapt forward and struck him in the chest, knocking him flying back into a tree.

Dazed, Shino told more of his bugs to go after that bandit and then pushed to his feet and rolled around behind the tree a moment before a shuriken struck where his shoulder had been. He leaned against the rough bark, panting, and then after a moment of thought sprinted to the next one along and skidded to a stop behind it.

Something wasn't right here. These bandits were fighting like trained ninja, and not weak ones either. Cautiously he leaned around the tree, hoping for some clue as to what was going on.

From the center of the camp a woman dressed as a shinobi, with the scratched hitai-ate of a nuke-nin, came rushing towards where Ino and Sakura still fought desperately. The target, he guessed, and supposedly the most dangerous person in the camp. If she was more dangerous than the so-called bandits she had to be at least jonin level.

Shino could see his bugs swarming over the three bandits, but their chakra-eating abilities didn't seem to be having any effect. Then the nuke-nin arrived, bursting through her own circle of bandits, and caught Sakura's arm as she tried to punch with a knuckle knife. With almost contemptuous ease the rogue ninja picked Sakura off her feet and delivered a flurry of crushing blows to her chest, throat, and face.

Then she let go, and Sakura fell limply to the ground.

Ino gave a shriek of terror and turned to run, shoving past a surprised bandit and sprinting for the trees. Shino barely noticed her, staring in horror at Sakura's body as he slowly backed away. It wasn't until he felt a tree at his back that he came to his senses. Staring at the camp he could see only fighting, and the nuke-nin was looking straight at him.

Ino had the right idea. The thought of abandoning his comrades sickened him, but the thought of facing that fearsome woman made his knees feel week.

Without looking back he turned and ran.

. . . . .

Neji watched in horror as the nuke-nin struck Sakura down and Ino and Shino fled. Then the rogue ninja turned to face him.

"Let's go, Neji!" Naruto shouted. As he rushed the nuke-nin he drew a kunai and threw it. Neji, with his byakugan, was shocked to see that his ally was manipulating chakra around the weapon, and the kunai flew with unusual speed. Even the nuke-nin looked surprised as she blocked the weapon with a kunai of her own, and more surprised when Naruto's kunai sheared right through hers. Her head bobbed to the side a split second before the kunai pierced her eye, but Neji could see a line of red along one temple.

The near miss seemed to anger the rogue ninja, and she moved with impossible speed to intercept Naruto. Naruto saw her coming and drew his fist back to strike, but it almost looked like he was moving in slow motion compared to her. She easily ducked under the blow, nearly to the ground, and as she rose her own fist caught Naruto in the chin and sent him flying almost ten feet into the air. The blond genin gave a cry of pain and went limp, falling bonelessly to the ground.

Neji backed away in shock. Not even his Gentle Fist style with the full aid of his byakugan could match that speed. This opponent was beyond him, beyond any of them. This opponent could defeat all of them at once.

Why had they been sent on such a mission?

"Retreat!" Neji yelled, turning and sprinting into the nearest tent. He could see the nuke-nin rushing towards him, and timed it so just as she pushed through the entry flaps into the tent he cut through the fabric right beside her and left again. Then he sprinted for where his remaining companions fought. "Choji, Lee, Kiba, to me!" he called. "Retreat!"

He'd been hoping to organize an orderly retreat, and possibly get them all back to Konoha in once piece, but as soon as he yelled retreat Choji and Kiba both turned and ran in opposite directions. Lee was the only one who broke away from the bandits to meet up with him.

"Follow me!" Neji called to his teammate, using his byakugan to find a safe path through the unnaturally strong bandits. They somehow made it to the trees, but he was aware of half a dozen enemies in close pursuit.

"What's going on here?" Lee demanded. One thing Neji had to say for his teammate, Lee's superb physical conditioning had carried him through that entire battle barely injured and hardly out of breath at all. A pity the bushy-browed boy was such a failure at everything that only endless work made him even slightly decent at the one thing that required no ability.

"I don't know," Neji replied tersely. "Save your breath for running. We have to find that cleanup crew Ibiki-sensei spoke of and get help."

It took 10 minutes of hard running and evasive manuvers to loose their tail and another 30 to find the cleanup crew and explain to them what had happened. It was a grim faced captain that issued orders to his aid, "Separate the men into 2 search parties and find the other genin. Do not engage the enemy unless unavoidable."

The aid saluted, "Yes sir, but... may I ask why we're not just completeing this mission ourselves?"

The captains face took on a look of annoyance, "There are 20 bandits with skill high enough over genin level to soundly beat our own genin, and there's an A-ranked nuke-nin leading that group. Our group consists of 4 chunin and a jonin. We do not have the man power to complete this mission, so we need to find all of the surviving genin and get to Konoha as quickly as possible. Hokage-sama must be made aware of this threat. Now get to work!"

The aid startled into action and with a quick, "Yes sir!" rushed of to follow his captains orders.

.

.

It was 5 hours later and all the genin had been recovered... except 3. Team psych was still missing. The search parties had found evidence of Shikamaru being captured, and all of the genin had seen the brutal ways Sakura and Naruto had been taken down. All of the genin were subdued by the loss of 3 people they had known and grown up with. Ino was sobbing in a combination of shock and fear, and Choji stared with wide blank eyes at the ground beneith his feet.

Out of respect for the hurting genin the captain said in a gental voice, "We can't stay here any longer. It's time to return to Konoha."

Ino's head jerked up and in a tear filled voice she said, "What! But team 10 might still be alive. We can't just leave them!" The captain watched as some life returned to the other genins eyes as they joined ranks around Ino and showed their agreement with her words.

The captains eyes softened, "While I admire your loyalty to your friends staying here won't help them. You are all in no condition to fight, and my group is too small to win a fight with those bandits. Our best bet for saving them is informing Hokage-sama of their capture as quickly as possible so that he can send a trained extraction team to rescue them. Understand?"

One-by-one the genin reluctantly nodded to understanding the captains words. "Good.", the captain said in a voice filled with gentle authority, "Move out." It was a very quiet but determined group of shinobi that hurried back to Konoha.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N The first part of this chapter was written by Nex-thanarak. Thanks you rock!

Chapter 14

Shikamaru shifted uncomfortably, groaning. He must have somehow rolled out of bed into a sitting position. Not the floor, since he was sitting with his feet pressed to the ground. On the trunk by his bed, maybe? Or somehow had he gotten to the chair by his desk? He was in a chair, actually; he could feel its back pressing against the back of his head. He tried to shift his arms to rub the sore area and froze.

He was bound. His arms and legs were tied to the chair.

In a rush he remembered what had happened. The sentry, easily breaking his shadow capture jutsu and disappearing. Being struck, the sensation of falling while blackness closed in around him.

And now he was here, wherever here was. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a small room, less than six feet by six feet, the only light a candle somewhere behind him, making a flickering shadow of him sitting on the chair against the only door, which was directly in front of him. The only other furniture in the room was some sort of surgical table a bit in front and to the side of him, in plain view. There was nothing on the table.

So they had captured him, whoever they were. And if he was tied to a chair in this small room instead of in some cell somewhere it likely meant they intended to question him.

Shikamaru closed his eyes again, steadying his breathing, and then slumped his head back down the way it had been and went motionless. Since the door was in front of him he could feign sleep and watch with slitted eyes as his interrogator entered. Since the candle was behind him it would be hard to tell he was awake, or read his face in any way for that matter. That was odd: usually it was a bright light, directly in front of the interrogation subject which not only dazed and confused the subject but also made his face perfectly clear and easy to read.

But he wasn't complaining. If the interrogator thought he was asleep he might act more naturally, and perhaps he could get some information from the person's appearance and clothing that would tell him where he was.

He waited in silence for what seemed a long time, but couldn't have been too long since the candle remained burning strongly: most candles didn't burn for more than a few hours, and he had no idea how long it had been burning before he woke up. Then there was a thump behind the door, and it creaked open.

Shikamaru made a special effort to be still and keep his breathing even as he gazed at the silhouette with slitted eyes. The figure that entered was dressed plainly and seemed to have a hood on, though it was hard to be certain with his eyes nearly shut. He was carrying a bag in one hand. For a moment the figure paused in the doorway, likely looking at him, and then he entered, shutting the door.

If the man knew he was awake he gave no sign; he brought the bag to the small surgical table and began drawing things out of it. Shikamaru couldn't identify any of the objects, except that there were a lot of sharp points, serrated edges, and things for grabbing and twisting. It didn't take much imagination to figure out what they were for.

Despite his ruse, he couldn't help but jump slightly as the man abruptly spoke. Not loudly, but in a low, calm voice. "They tell me you're smart, boy. Or at the very least skilled. That ambush spot you picked was about the best to be found along that sentry's patrol route, and your positioning and attack were just about perfect."

Shikamaru debated the pros and cons of continuing to feign unconsciousness. Likely he'd already given away some sign that he was awake, and it would be safe to assume that after sitting in this uncomfortable chair for hours he'd be awake anyway. So without any sort of pretense at waking up he simply lifted his head and opened his eyes.

Interesting. In his limited interrogation training he'd learned that interrogators tried to be as open as possible. They dressed casually, never covered their face or eyes, spoke open, frank sentences, and tried to seem sinister and companionable at the same time. Interrogation was all about making the prisoner think they were just a minor annoyance and you didn't really want to hurt them, but you would.

Then again, that might be more of a Konoha style. This interrogator from another village or organization was masked and hooded with black cloth, his eyes barely visible. Even his voice was muffled, with a grating quality to it that suggested he was deliberately trying to deepen it. An intimidating tactic?

Though he tried to stop himself, Shikamaru's gaze darted back to that tray of torture implements. Well, in shogi it was a common practice to prevent an opponent from even attempting an attack by maneuvering to make that attack futile. He met those shadowed eyes again and braced himself. "I may be young, but you won't break me with pain." To prove his point, he very deliberately bit down on his tongue. Agony bloomed in his mouth, so intense it made him dizzy, but he fought to keep his expression neutral as he continued to meet the interrogator's gaze. He didn't know how well he did, but unless he was seriously mistaken his actions had shocked the man. He spat the blood flowing into his mouth out onto the floor. "Do feel free to try, though."

The interrogator turned and moved to the door with hurried steps, throwing it open. "I need a medic in here!" he yelled, and for a moment he forgot to deepen his voice.

Shikamaru watched that open door, trying to assess the situation rationally both as a means of ignoring the pain and to plan his next move. His interrogator had been more than shocked by his actions, he'd been shaken, and almost frightened. Was he truly an experienced interrogator, or was he a novice? And if so, why was he here instead of someone more experienced?

Who held him captive, and what did they want from him? He was a mere genin, hardly part of the Hokage's plans. He didn't know the patrol routes or mission plans of jonins or even chunins, and information on his own missions was hardly worth torturing out of him. He might know something about Konohagakure's defenses, but it was no more than any other villager could learn.

In short, did he know anything important enough to justify the trap of a nuke-nin and a score of bandits, and at least the sentry he'd ambushed far more powerful than him? Once the enemy had realized they'd captured nothing more than a genin, why had they not killed him or simply taken him prisoner? Why this interrogation room, the shrouded interrogator?

Rushing feet marked the entrance of a medical ninja, his face also shrouded with a cloth tied so only his eyes were visible. His hands weren't gentle as they grabbed Shikamaru's jaw and forced his mouth open, but that might have simply been urgency. "Spit," the medic ordered. Shikamaru complied, and then the medic's fingers, glowing green with healing chakra, began probing at his tongue.

Shikamaru ignored the process. Why were they so concerned for his well-being? And why were they trying to keep their identities hidden? The Nara family was more influential then some within Konoha's politics, and he might have made a good hostage. At the same time his father was hardly prominent, and neither was he. They couldn't have known who they had when they captured him, and he hadn't offered a name.

Was it possible those who had captured him were Konoha traitors, ones who either valued his life or his information too greatly to see him harmed? Or...

Or perhaps they weren't traitors, but still Konoha shinobi. He'd heard Naruto's story of Inoichi-sensei's little deception, making the reckless blond genin think his teammates were dead. Was this another deception, by Ibiki-sensei this time, perhaps further training in resisting interrogation? It would explain why him deliberately injuring himself had caused such a panic: teaching was one thing, but torturing kids was something quite different. If word got out that a jonin-sensei had done something careless that resulted in his genin student being hurt it would cause a major uproar.

The medic backed away, and Shikamaru moved his tongue experimentally. It still hurt, and felt thicker than usual, but otherwise it was fine. His interrogator returned, curtly dismissing the medic, who shut the door behind him, throwing the room back into that gloom with only the one candle behind him burning.

"A nice little stunt you pulled, boy. But you're a fool if you think pain is the only way to get a person to talk."

Shikamaru couldn't help it; he smiled. "So you're not going to torture me? Or maybe you can't?" No response. "I would recognize Ibiki-sensei's voice, even if he tried to change it. Are you one of his subordinates, then? He'll shout at you til he's hoarse when he hears one of his students nearly bit his tongue off on your watch."

Shikamaru had been expecting a lot of things from the man. Shock, perhaps. Fear, maybe. Anger, even. But when the interrogator threw back his head and laughed he was completely confused.

"Ibiki, is it?" he asked, drawing a small notebook out of his pocket and scribbling something down. "And he's your teacher. See, you're already talking, and I didn't even have to do anything to you."

For a moment Shikamaru could only gape. Had he been wrong? Was he actually the prisoner of enemies of Konoha? But no, it still didn't make any sense. "You were awfully quick to send for a medic when I bit my tongue. Why do you care if you're not one of Sensei's subordinates?"

"Can't talk without a tongue," the man replied calmly, still scribbling. "Care to tell me your name, boy? The name of your teammates?" Shikamaru weighed the benefits of making some sarcastic reply, then remained silent. The man didn't seem too disturbed. "You're part of one of those four-man teams the Leaf seems so fond of, right? Is this Ibiki your jonin-sensei? Where was he when the attack took place?"

Shikamaru said nothing, cursing his stupidity. He always impressed people with his genius, but he'd blabbed like Naruto, arrogantly assuming his assessment of the situation was the correct one. The possibility still remained that this was a test by his sensei, but there was nothing to be gained from acting on that assumption. He'd been outmaneuvered, and handily. Everything he said could give information to the enemy, and there was nothing to gain from conversation. It was time to become silent.

There was a long, drawn out silence as those hooded eyes looked at him. Then the interrogator tried more questions, all seemingly inane but potentially catastrophic in enemy hands. Shikamaru replied to none of them, refusing to be drawn in. After almost an hour of question after question fed to him by that calm, relentless voice, there was finally another pause in the questioning.

"I see you're going for silence, boy. Commendable in your situation." His interrogator walked around behind him, and a moment later the dim light of the candle disappeared. "But I'll teach you to open your mouth. You're going to be alone in the dark, now. When you finally decide you want water, all you have to do is ask. Just say "water", if you can't bring yourself to speak any more than that." Footsteps echoed in the small chamber, and then the door opened and a silhouette appeared in it. With a clang it shut, and a moment later he was alone in the dark, already hungry and thirsty.

. . . . .

Sacrifice, that was it. Death by thirst was a terrible way to go, but if he could die so easily and avoid betraying his village he'd do it. All he had to do was ignore the dryness in his mouth, the dizziness, and in a few days it would be over.

He sat in the darkness, miserable. A few days was easy enough to imagine, except that he had no idea how much time was passing in this pitch black, and the worse it became the longer time would seem to stretch. He couldn't give up though. Even to say "water" was a psychological defeat, as good as openly admitting he could be broken. From there he'd cave to every necessity, until he was selling them tidbits that could get his friends killed for even something so simple as using the privy.

He refused to do it. He didn't care how bad the agony of hunger and thirst became, how the darkness pressed on him.

What seemed like an eternity in the darkness passed, and then from somewhere he began to hear the steady drip, drip, drip of water plinking into a container. He had no doubts that tempting sound was for his benefit, and it wouldn't cease until he caved and begged for water. Even after so short a time, it surprised him how great a temptation that was, and it was becoming more and more tempting by the moment. It was just a word, not information about his village. He could say it, and have a drink, and his mind would be clear and strong to resist other interrogation attempts.

That was bad. His clever mind itself was trying to betray him, as surely as he'd betray his friends if he spoke. So instead of giving into the temptation he did his best to fall asleep.

. . . . .

Icy water shocked him awake, gasping and spluttering, and when he opened his mouth wide to breathe around the torrent a funnel was jammed between his teeth, and water was pouring down his throat. He desperately breathed through his nose, even as he eagerly gulped the delicious, cold life sinking into his empty gut and making it slosh like a waterbag.

Somewhere behind that darkness his interrogator spoke. "Bring him." Shikamaru felt his chair jolt as hands gripped its arms and threw him backwards. For a moment he flailed, but then more hands grabbed its legs and picked it up, carrying him. The light dazzled him, and he could see nothing more than a plain, utilitarian hallway until he was carried through another door.

There were two more chairs in the center of the small room, lit by electric bulbs, his teammates slumped with their backs to him. He was carried over and dropped beside Naruto. The blond genin was unconscious, his entire face a mass of bruises and one leg bent awkwardly.

"What did you do to him?" he demanded of his interrogator, still shrouded and standing in front of them. The others had backed away. It wasn't until the man inclined his head mockingly, as if in gratitude, that he realized he'd broken his resolve to remain silent.

"It was obvious you'd be the hardest to get information from," the man said with open satisfaction. "I decided not to bother, and went on to easier targets. Luckily your friends were willing to give me what I needed." He laughed. "I'll admit, I'm impressed by you. You lasted nearly three days with a few drops poured down your throat while you were unconscious. But I'm grateful to your friends, and they begged that you be spared as well, so I'm going to let you all go."

Shikamaru blinked, still dazed by the water in the face and the bright lights. "You are?"

"Of course. You'll have to wait a couple days, though, until we complete our attack. Then you're free to go where you will. You can even go home, though it won't be there for you." With another laugh the man walked around behind them, and a moment later he heard the squeak of hinges as the room's door closed.

There was only silence as Shikamaru sat, full of despair. He had faith in his village, of course, in Will of Fire that fueled its defenders. But the interrogator had seemed so satisfied, so confident. What if whatever information he'd gotten from Naruto and Sakura really was all he needed to carry out his attack?

"Naruto," he hissed. There was no response. "Naruto," he said a bit louder, rocking his chair until his shoulder bumped his teammate's. After a few more tries Naruto groaned and shook his head groggily, lifting it to look around with pure confusion.

"Wha?" he said with effort through a swollen jaw. Then he stiffened. "Oh no. Oh no, no NO! What did I do? What did I say?" His wide blue eyes turned and caught Shikamaru's, and they were so full of guilt and despair that Shikamaru felt as if it were being transferred to him so he felt it as well.

"I don't know," he hissed. "What did you tell them?"

The blue eyes blinked, confused. "I...I don't know." Then they widened again. "Ibiki-sensei! Teammate, where was he when the attack began? I was being beaten, and they were asking me questions, and I said something about him, and then the beating stopped and they left me in the dark."

Shikamaru felt a moment of panic. Was this what it was about, then? Were they looking for information about Sensei? "What did you tell him?" he demanded.

Those eyes pled with him. "Where was Ibiki? If I told them something they could use to find him..."

"He was probably in his office," Shikamaru said. "What did you tell them, baka?"

Naruto looked even more confused. "Office?"

"Yes his office!" Shikamaru shouted, frustrated. "T&I headquarters, second sub-level, room 305. Naruto, _what did you tell him_?"

The guilt and confusion faded from those clear blue eyes, and Naruto smiled. "Nothing. But you just did." On the other side of Naruto Sakura disappeared in a cloud of smoke, a clone, and Naruto's face dissolved into the cowled features of his interrogator, using a transformation jutsu. The man pushed up from the chair, kicking it aside with a laugh. "Thank you, boy. I still don't have your name, but I have all I need to find and capture Morino Ibiki. He'll tell me what I really need to know, although I still have use for you. You're going to help me get that information from him. And who knows, maybe you'll finally get your wish and be tortured, if only to make him talk."

Shikamaru stared at his interrogator, shocked. He'd thought he could endure pain, discomfort, torment. He'd thought he could outsmart his interrogator, see through his questions, and perhaps find out more about the man than the man was trying to find out about him. But again he'd been tricked, this time fatally.

And it had only taken a few days! What kind of fool was he, to betray his sensei with barely a few words, with a trick he should have seen through so easily?

"Kill me," he said dully. He wouldn't give this man anything more, even if it meant his death. "Or release me and let me die trying to stop you."

The hooded figure laughed again. "Why should I do either? You've been so helpful, and you'll continue to be helpful. Who knows, maybe after I get what I need from Morino I'll even let you go like I promised. Until then I'm done with you. Farewell." Again the man walked around behind him, his steady, even footfalls heading for the door.

"Kill me!" Shikamaru shouted. "Don't make me betray my sensei any more!" He began jerking in his chair, trying to tip it so he'd smash himself against the chair the interrogator had kicked over. He didn't know if he even _could_ manage to hurt himself tied to this chair, but he meant to try it, if only to prevent himself from being a further liability to Ibiki-sensei.

But only moments later hands caught at the chair, shackling its legs to blocks of lead so he couldn't move it, and no matter how he jerked and thrashed it no longer budged. He was left alone once more, with the single dim bulb providing his only light.

He wished he were back in the darkness, and that he'd never opened his mouth.

.

.

Ino followed the somber group of genin and their sensei into the courtyard of ANBU HQ. More then a week had passed since their friends from team 10 had been captured on that disastrous mission, and today their sensei finally had news about their friends. But, considering where they were meeting, it couldn't be very good news. If their friends had been recovered surely they would have met at the Hokage Tower, or at least the hospital, but not here.

Ino had cried the whole way back from that awful mission, and she had a feeling that after today she'd want to cry again. Still, she had to know what had happened to her friends, so she resolutely followed Ibiki-sensei down into the bowls of ANBU HQ. Ibiki-sensei stopped in a long, well lit room, with three large glass windows on one wall.

Ino was sicked by what she saw through those windows, and even as she looked she could hear the gasps of shock and horror from the genin around her. For behind those three windows were three rooms, and in those rooms were the three missing genin of team 10. All of them were tightly bound to metal chairs. But their condition, Ino didn't think she'd ever forget their condition. Ino's stomach sank as she looked at Sakura who was sobbing and apologizing again and again for her betrayal; the blond genin had no idea what kind of betrayal her best friend could be speaking of. The Yamanaka's stomach sank further as she looked at Shikamaru who was thrashing and straining at his bonds, who was shouting over and over again to be killed while throwing insults at an enemy who wasn't there. But the most disturbing sight of all, The sight that would keep Ino from being able to eat anything for days, was Naruto. Lively, energetic Naruto sitting in his chair staring at nothing, while looking as lifeless as a corpse. Ino felt a sob catch in her throat as she turned away from the horrible sight.

After a few minutes of mourning for her broken friends she herd someone clear their throat, and Ino and the other genin turned their eyes to a somber looking Ibiki. In a voice thick with sorrowful intensity Ibiki-sensei said, "Take a good look-", Ibiki took a shuddering breath, "Take a good look at your friends. These three have more anti-interrogation training than the rest of you combined. They broke in a week. Ibiki looked each genin in the eye as his voice rose, "The first rule of interrogation is that everyone talks eventually!" Ibiki's voice quieted down to nearly that of a whisper, but the words were no less forceful, "And the first rule of being a shinobi is to not _ever _let yourself get captured!... Because if you are, you will talk and betray everyone you know and love."

Ino had tears streaming from her eyes as she watched Ibiki-sensei turn to look sorrowfully at his students. As the sensei quietly led their students from the room Ino's last view of that terrible place was Ibiki-sensei's sorrow, and Naruto's lifeless eyes.

.

.

None of the genin responded particularly well to Ibiki-sensei's lesson. Ino locked herself in her room and cried for two days strait until a frantic Inoichi got desperate enough to break down the door so he could comfort his daughter. Choji completely lost his appetite for a week, and only managed to eat what little he did in an attempt to keep his mother from worrying. Sasuke trained each day until his knuckles bled and his muscles screamed with exhaustion. He didn't care what Ibiki-sensei said, not everyone talked. His _brother _wouldn't talk, so he had to make sure he wouldn't either. Team Gai all trained themselves to exhaustion They may not have been as naïve as the nine rookies, but even they had never seen any of their comrades so broken; and seeing such a sight shocked them into striving to make themselves strong enough to never be in the same position. But it was team eight that had the most surprising reaction.

It was the day after Ibiki's lesson when Kiba went and collected his two teammates and took them to their teams normal training ground. When they got there Kiba spun around to study his two teammate's. Shino, for the most part, looked his usual stoic self, but Hinata was a basket case. Seeing the unbreakable Naruto broken had done more to harm Hinata than her family could have ever done. Kiba's lips thinned as his face took on a deadly serious look. He _would _bring Hinata out of her depression! Hinata and Shino were his team, his pack! And he would never let them be hurt like team ten had been!

With this determination driving him forward he spoke, "We've gotta improve our teamwork. If one of us is caught we need to have plans already in place so that we can recover our teammate quickly!"

Shino raised an eyebrow in surprise, but then nodded, "I agree, but I would like to suggest a fail-safe that will allow us to eliminate ourselves if it becomes clear that recovery has failed."

Kiba looked a little sick, "That's... a good idea, but let's work hard to make sure we never have to use it." As one Kiba and Shino turned towards Hinata and Kiba asked, "Hinata, are you with us?" Both boys frowned with worry as Hinata's only answer was a dazed nod. Kiba and Shino looked at each other and an understanding passed between them. Then, in a voice filled with conviction, Kiba stated, "Let's get better."

.

.

While team 8 were working hard to get stronger, The three genin of team psych were finally getting released from T&I headquarters. All three genin tried to avoid looking at their teammates, because every time they caught one of their teammates eye they saw their own dead eyes staring back at them from their teammates faces.

Naruto broke away from his teammates as quickly as he could. Looking at them only reminded him of the gnawing emptiness where his heart used to be. He couldn't bear this alone and he couldn't bear it with his teammate's maybe in a few days when they'd all healed a little, but not now. Out of options he went to the only person he could go to. Someone he wished he could keep out of this. But he needed comfort, and so he stood outside of academy room 325 listening to the voice of the man who had come closest to being a father to him. Naruto ignored the fact that it was the middle of lecture time at the academy and opened the door to see the face of his father. Naruto felt tears start to slip down his face as a confused and concerned sensei turned to look at him. "Iruka-sensei", Naruto whispered right before Iruka wrapped Naruto into his loving arms.

.

.

It had been two days. Two days since Sakura had been released from that hell that reminded her of her torture. Ibiki-sensei had tried to talk to her, but she couldn't talk to him about this. Before he let her go he told her to find someone to talk to, but she didn't know who she could go to. Her parents were civilians, they wouldn't understand and would use this to once again try and convince her to quit the shinobi program, and with how she was feeling right now, she might just give into their demands. She couldn't talk to her teammates, it hurt to even think of them. Ibiki-sensei was out of the question, she didn't know him well enough to trust him. So now she was going to see the one person she truly loathed, but also the one person she thought would, maybe understand. Sakura found her sitting in a tree wolfing down dango.

When Anko saw Sakura she was surprised, "Eh? What're you doin' here gaki?" She was even more surprised when she saw tears slip from Sakura's eyes.

Sakura sobbed, "I don't know what to do. I don't know who to go to. I hardly know Ibiki-sensei and my parent's wouldn't understand. I can't get rid of this emptiness where my heart is, I think it's growing, and I'm so scared. I don't know how to get rid of it and I didn't know who to ask. Please. Tell me how to get rid this horrible emptiness"

Anko stared down into the tear-filled eyes of Sakura, and didn't know what to do. Her specialty was breaking minds; not fixing them. But she remembered a time when she'd been just as broken as this girl below her, and just as alone. She knew she had to try. So she jumped down to the girls level and gave a gentle smile that her mouth barely remembered how to form, "All right Sakura. Say what ever you need to say. I'm listening."

.

.

Shikaku had never been a man of action. He much preferred to sit back and review all the options before going into a situation. But in this case he felt he needed to act even when vital information was missing. His son, Shikamaru, had locked himself in the shoji room of all places and hadn't budged from there in two days. His wife had tried to Shikamaru to talk to her and had gotten no response. She was starting to get really worried, and in truth, so was he. So, in spite of feeling out of his depth he went and broke open the shoji room door, and froze. Shikamaru was sitting at a shoji table playing a game with himself in the most frenzied state Shikaku had ever seen his son in.

After overcoming his surprise at his sons state he Shikaku went and sat down opposite him, "Son. What are you doing?"

"I have to get better." Was a distracted Shikamaru's reply.

"At?"

"Strategy."

"Why?"

With a yell of frustration Shikamaru threw the shoji board to the side, "Because I'm not good enough!"

Shikaku looked at his panting son, "Are you finally ready to talk about what happened?"

A tear slipped from one of Shikamaru's eyes as he said, "I can't. I can't think about what happened. It hurts too much."

Shikaku gave his son a sad look, "I know it hurts, but I promise you two things. One, the pain won't last forever, and two, the sooner you talk about it the sooner the pain will end."

Shikamaru wouldn't look at his father for several minutes but when he did look up he gave a hesitant nod, and started talking.

.

.

It had been almost a week since Ino had her melt down and now, thanks to her father, she was ready to face ninja life again. After Ibiki-sensei's lesson Ino realized she needed to get a lot stronger than she was now. With that in mind Ino walked into the Uchiha training grounds, and gasped at what she saw. In front of her Sasuke was pounding on a training log even though his knuckles were already raw and bleeding. "Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted as she ran forward, "What are you doing? You're hurting yourself!"

Sasuke gave a snort of annoyance, "What are you doing here Ino? I'm trying to train."

Ino clasped her hands in front of herself and adopted a shy expression, "Well, after Ibiki-sensei's lesson I realized how important it was to get stronger, and I thought we could get stronger faster if we worked together." Ino finished her statement with hope shining from her eyes.

Sasuke sighed, "I won't work with you. You'd just drag me down."

Ino looked surprised, "But Sasuke-kun! Teamwork always makes you stronger!"

"Only if your teammate's are strong. You're weak and not worthy of truly working with me."

Ino felt tears pool in her eyes as she turned to run away from Sasuke and the hurtful things he'd said. As Ino ran she wondered, for the first time since meeting Sasuke, if he was really worth chasing.

.

.

Naruto sat on top of the Hokage monument looking down on Konoha. It had been a hard week since he'd been released from Ibiki-sensei's care. While Iruka-sensei's comfort had gone a long way toward restoring Naruto back to his normal self; there was one question that wouldn't stop bothering Naruto. He was up here trying to find the answer to that question while staring down at a village that hated him. The blond boy was startled out of his thoughts by Sakura's voice, "Naruto? What are you pondering so deeply that you didn't even hear me coming?"

Naruto's thoughts froze for a moment before he was able to respond, "O-oh I was. I was just wondering why we do this."

Sakura looked confused, "Why we do... what?"

Naruto gave a sad sigh, "Why we risk our lives, our sanity, for a village that will never understand and will never really care."

The girl looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well. The reason _I _stay a shinobi is because my family and friends are here and they love this village. If the village was destroyed they'd be hurt. So I keep fighting."

Naruto looked absolutely heartbroken, "But Sakura, I don't have family."

Sakura looked genuinely surprised, "Of course you do!" Naruto opened his mouth to object, but she cut him off, "You have Iruka-sensei, Hokage-sama. Heck I know I think of you as my brother, and I bet Shikamaru feels much the same way. You do have a family here Naruto and if you can't fight for the village as a whole; which, by the way, I sort of get, then fight for us and our cause. Someday it will be easier to see the worth of the village, but until then fight for us."

Naruto stared at Sakura for a minute than laughed, "Wow Sakura, who would'a thought that _you_ of people could be wise?"

Sakura gave Naruto a playful glare, "That's it? I come up here to make you feel better and all you can do is insult me? Run far Naruto cause when I catch you I'm not holding back!"

Naruto jumped up and took of running with Sakura right behind him. Their laughter echoing behind them.

.

.

It was a bright sunny day, but Hiruzen thought if the weather had any justice it would be pouring, or at least really cloudy. But no. The sun was shining. Stupid, stupid sun. Sarutobi sighed, "Izumo!"

A few minutes later a chunin cautiously popped his head through the door, "Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Get team psych here quickly." The Third sighed.

Izumo saluted and quickly went to do as his Kage ordered, but he couldn't help feeling a little sorry for team psych. After all, it was obvious Hokage-sama was not in a good mood. Oh well maybe Naruto would be able to cheer him up, he was good at that.

.

Twenty minutes later a curious Team Psych was escorted into their Kages office, but before they had a chance to ask what was going on Sarutobi spoke, "I've called you here to assign you you're first unsupervised intelligence gathering mission, but I know its only been a few weeks since you're ordeal and I want to know if you think you're ready to be totally immersed in the field. You're sensei thinks you're ready, but I don't want to send you out there unless _you three _think you can handle it."

The three genin looked at each other then Naruto stepped forward, "We're ready jiji. What's our mission?"

Hiruzen smiled, "I received a message from Kakashi it seems his team was sent into a mission before all the facts could be obtained. You're mission is to gather all the back information you can about their mission and then help them complete their objective." The Third held two scrolls out for Naruto to take, "This is the original mission scroll as well as the message Kakashi sent me. Also while you will have a fair amount of autonomy you will need to keep Kakashi informed of your progress, and you will need to obey any direct orders he gives you. Do you accept the mission?"

Once again the three genin looked at each other before Naruto answered, "We accept Hokage-jiji- I-I mean Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi chuckled and held out one more scroll, "Good. Leave as quickly as possible and when you rendezvous with Kakashi give him this scroll."

Naruto half-smiled and tilted his head to the side, "Uh jiji? Where exactly are we going?"

A brief flash of surprise passed over Hiruzen's face before he answered, "To the land of waves."


	15. Special Omake

A/N Hey all! Sorry this isn't the next chappy I'm working on it I promise. In fact I already know exactly what needs to happen I'm just having trouble getting it happen... yeah. Anyway! This little omake takes place a few days after the naruto/sakura scene. Also I'm writing this as a thank you to all of you wonderful people who review my story. It's so reassuring to know that people like it. :)

Omake- The Thing

Naruto was happily bounding through the streets of Konoha as he thought of the perfect prank. Normally he wouldn't even consider playing such a prank, but it had been a stressful month; and what better way to relieve stress then messing with people's heads? Now all he needed to do was get his hands on some of the Shodai's DNA, and the only place he could think to look that wouldn't be too suspicious would be the First's grave. So that's where he was going.

.

.

After two hours, spending time as a gopher, and a bit of mental scarring; Naruto was leaning against the maintenance shack in a secluded section of training ground 7 with a vial of the Shodai's DNA. His hands were shaking as he separated a bit of the Firsts DNA from the rest, he couldn't wait to see if this would work. Oh the chaos it would cause in the village if Konoha's great founder suddenly came back from the dead! He could do anything! Naruto quickly ate the tiny portion he'd separated, and channeled chakra. As he channeled his chakra he felt something begin to happen. Suddenly an overpowering feeling swept through him forcing his thought's down and his conscious mind into oblivion.

.

.

Kakashi was standing before the memorial stone paying his respects to his deceased friends when he felt a massive surge of chakra from further in the training ground. Instantly on alert, Kakashi went to make sure it was just someone practicing jutsu instead of something more sinister.

When he got to the clearing that held training grounds 7's maintenance shake he froze in surprise. For in the clearing was a giant, tentacled,… thing, happily chowing down on the wall of the shack. Kakashi was at a loss. He'd never seen anything like this, and while his normal response would have been to detain the threat for questioning, he wasn't even sure this thing knew how to talk. His next step would be to kill it, but it was weird and weird things usually came from ANBU R&D and those scientists got _scary_ when you messed with their experiments. So, with his two normal options out of the question he created a shadow clone to watch the... thing, and went to report this to the Hokage.

.

.

"Hokage-sama!", Kakashi shouted as soon as his shushin deposited him in the Hokage's office.

Sarutobi jumped and, in the process, spilled all of the paperwork he had been working on onto the floor. The most powerful man in Konoha gave Kakashi a very evil glare as he growled, "You had better have a good reason for breaching protocol"

Kakashi gulped, "Sir, there's a giant, tentacled.. thing eating training ground 7's maintenance shack."

Hiruzen stared blankly at Kakashi then sighed, "I knew I was giving you too many high level missions. But still, I thought I pulled you off of them soon enough to prevent battle fatigue."

The jonin looked affronted, "I'm not hallucinating, there really is a giant tentacled thing eating a shack!"

Sarutobi just sighed and pulled out a piece of paper, "Yep, I was too late. I'm going to give you a week of full leave. Your team will have a temporary sensei, and _you _will have mandatory daily therapy sessions with Inoichi."

Kakashi choked, "B-but Hokage-sama! I can prove that the thing is real, just come to training ground 7 with me and see for yourself."

The Third gave Kakashi a searching look, "Very well, but if there's nothing there, you'll have two weeks of sessions with Inoichi."

Kakashi gulped, "H-hai Hokage-sama p-please follow me."

With that they both disappeared in a poof of smoke.

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It was a rather dull scene that awaited Sarutobi on the other side of that shushin. First off there wasn't anything like Kakashi described. There was, however, a vary run down maintenance shack which wasn't all that surprising since maintenance shack's were, ironically, usually poorly maintained. What was odd though was Naruto curled up against a corner of the shack and... gnawing on the wall while mumbling something that sounded like, "muuuuust eaaaaaat waaaaaaallllll."

The third quirked an eyebrow, "Kakashi I've changed my mind, you won't have two weeks leave with mandatory therapy sessions."

Kakashi perked up in hope. Until the Hokage continued, "Both you and Naruto will be confined to the hospital psych ward until all sign's of erratic behavior have been erased."

Kakashi thought he would cry.

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A few days later Naruto had been released from the hospital due to good behavior, while Kakashi had his stay extended an additional week after he tried to escape. Now Naruto was sitting with Shikamaru explaining what had happened, "I don't understand Shika why did I turn into The Thing instead of the First, and why did I lose my mind?"

Shikamaru sat thinking upon what Naruto had just told him. As he sat his hands came together until the fingertips were touching, creating a circle. Finally, after several minutes of holding this pose , Shikamaru spoke, "Maybe, you became The Thing because the First's DNA was no longer pure."

Naruto gave Shikamaru a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"If you think about it", Shikamaru said, "The Shodai's body has entirely decomposed, and decomposition is caused by bacteria-"

"You think The Thing was a bacterium?" Naruto interrupted.

Shikamaru looked thoughtful, "Nnnoo, not exactly. Kakashi-sensei would have probably recognized a bacterium, even if it was super-sized. It's more likely that because the DNA wasn't pure; you became a mixture of all the things that made up the DNA. As for the whole losing your mind thing, maybe The Thing naturally has a small brain and your ability didn't know how to.. compensate for that the first time."

Naruto smirked, "So you think it might be possible for me to overcome the whole loosing my mind thing? 'Cause it would be awesome if I could turn into The Thing in battle. Can you just imagine how crazy that would be! Especially if I could figure out how to use the part of the First's DNA that has to be mixed in. I'd be like the ultimate tree growing war-machine!"

Shikamaru smiled, "Maybe."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N Hey all! Sorry for how long it's been since I last updated( I can't believe it's been a month:0); school's been a killer. Also, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed on my story. It may not seem like it, but every time I get an encouraging review I feel more inspired. In fact, thanks to the reviews, I've gotten the next two arcs of the story mapped out in my head. Now I just need to find the time to write them down (stupid,stupid college) :). Oh! And happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it! Now on with the story.

Chapter 16 – Making Waves part 1

After three days of hard traveling, and tricking suspicious villagers into giving up the location of Tazuna's house; Team Psych had finally caught up to Team 7. Now Naruto and Sakura were quietly waiting for Shikamaru to get back with Kakashi-taicho so they could get caught up on the situation and get further orders. Well, Sakura was waiting quietly, Naruto was muttering about the order to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Sure, it made sense to not go around showing off who they were; they _were _spies after all. But, going so far as to not show themselves to another Konoha team! Wasn't that taking it a bit far! Naruto was pulled away from his mumbling when Shikamaru showed up. With out Kakashi-taicho.

"Where's Kakashi-taicho, Shika?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru frowned, "He's suffering from chakra exhaustion."

"What! Why?", A surprised Naruto asked.

Shikamaru shrugged, "Because of our orders to be discrete I couldn't ask team 7, but, as an educated guess, I would say that Kakashi-taicho went up against another ninja after the demon brothers. A strong ninja if his state right now is anything to go by."

Sakura's face took on a thoughtful expression as she worried her lower lip, "Do you think that ninja is still alive?"

Shikamaru frowned and shook his head, "Not likely. If they weren't dead team 7 would be more on alert, or dead themselves. But with how little we know we should assume the worst. That the enemy nin is still alive, and will be coming back to finish the job; that way, we won't get any really unpleasant surprises."

Naruto nodded, "Good idea Shikamaru. Now it's obvious that we don't have nearly enough information and since our mission is to gather info we should make that a priority. But, with Kakashi-taicho out of commotion our options are limited. Shikamaru, do you think that team 7 is doing an adequate job guarding Tazuna's house?"

With a sigh the shadow user shook his head, "No. They've put up a few traps and someone is always keeping watch, but I was able to get into Kakashi-taicho's room without any difficulty, and they don't have any sort of warning system past the meadow the house is in."

Now Naruto frowned, "I was worried about that." The blond paused for a minute in thought and then looked up with an air of command around him, "Alright, in light of the information we _do _have I suggest we do this; some clones and I will patrol around the house starting at a half mile out and moving inward. Sakura, since you have the most medical knowledge of any of us you should go and take care of Kakashi-taicho, get him back on his feet as soon as you possibly can. You're job will be the hardest since you'll need to remain unseen right under the noses of everyone. Can you do that?"

Sakura looked like she wanted to be insulted, but knew that Naruto was right since she would have the hardest job so she just sighed and nodded.

The blond smiled when he saw her nod, "Good. Now Shikamaru your job will also be hard." The shadow user sighed and mumbled a 'great', but Naruto only acknowledged it with a smile before continuing, "Your job will be to go into the town and find out as much as you can on what's causing the problems here. Sound good?"

After a thoughtful minute Shikamaru nodded, "I agree to take on that part of the mission. However, I think you should have a shadow clone go along with both Sakura and me to act as back up, and a quick way to pass messages between each other if we get out of radio range. Also, I think that we should meet here tonight, and every night at sundown. That way we can pass on relevant info, and find out if someones in trouble by virtue of them not showing up and not sending a message"

Sakura nodded her consent as Naruto answered, "Agreed. We'll meet back here at sundown, and be careful you guys." With that Naruto made a small army of clones, and the original and all but two of the clones took off to start their patrols. While that was happening the two other members also split up to handle their duties with a Naruto clone trailing behind them.

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Naruto was walking along his patrol path when he felt the information from a popped clone filter into his mind. It seemed one of his clones had stumbled upon a civilian picking medicinal herbs in the forest. The clone knew some of the herbs from what Sakura had taught him about first aid, but the majority of the herbs were ones he'd never seen before. At first Naruto wasn't sure why his clone had paid such close attention to a civilian. He had to run the memory through his head a few more times before he saw why the clone had started to be suspicious. The civilian was far too quiet, and it seemed almost natural for this person to walk without leaving a trail. Those were both ninja traits and Naruto wanted to see who this ninja was. So, he made his way to where the civilian had been and picked a sample of each of the herbs the strange nin had picked, he'd ask Sakura what the herbs were used for tonight at their meeting.

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That evening Naruto was lounging in a tree waiting for his two teammates to come to the pre-arranged meeting. It was odd for his to be the first person to a team meeting instead of the last, but in this case it wasn't all that surprising; Shikamaru and Sakuras' jobs were much harder than his. The rustling of a branch near his own brought him into an alert state, and he glanced over to see Sakura crouching there. Naruto gave her a nod and was about to greet her when his own branch shook from having greater weight on it. Both Naruto and Sakura looked to see Shikamaru sitting there. Naruto sat up with a grin, "Great we're all here! Now we can give each other our reports. Sakura why don't you start?"

The kunoichi nodded, "After giving Kakashi-taicho as thorough a physical as I could, I found that without any medical intervention he would wake up in two or three days, and would be able to fight again in about a week. But while he'll be able to fight in a week, he won't be at the top of his game."

Naruto butted in, "Ok, so that's without medical intervention, but what about with it?"

Sakura frowned at Naruto, "As I was _about _to say, with medical intervention taicho should be up by tomorrow night at the latest, and while he still won't be completely fighting fit by the end of the week he'll be a lot closer."

Naruto smiled, "Great! Good work Sakura.", Naruto turned to Shikamaru, "What were you able to find out Shika?"

Shikamaru yawned, "The client Tazuna is being targeted for assassination by the shipping magnate Gato. Apparently Gato has a lot of ties with shady businesses and has been using those ties to put a choke-hold on Waves economy while he bleeds it dry. Tazuna's building a bridge that will give the people of Wave an option besides dealing with Gato. Oh, and your clone stayed behind to try and learn more about Gato Naruto."

Sakura sneered, "Wow that Gato's really scum I hope we get to make his life a lot more miserable while completing our mission."

A thoughtful Naruto spoke, "I think we'll need to do more than make his life more miserable."

The kunoichi looked over at her him in confusion, "What do you mean Naruto?"

"The fastest way to stop the assassination attempts on Tazuna, _and _stop Gato's choke-hold on wave would be to assassinate Gato, and, somehow, make sure his company wouldn't be able to continue after he's gone.", Naruto said.

Sakura shouted, "And who's gonna kill him? You!"

Naruto frowned, "Yeah me; and what of it?"

Sakura's voice shook with worry, "Naruto you can't. You've never killed before, and you know an assassination is the worst kind of first kill someone can have. If you do this you won't even have the comfort of telling yourself that you only killed them out of self defense"

"No, but I will have the comfort of knowing that my act saved an entire country, and completed our mission, which I think will more than make up for it. So, I'll watch him tomorrow and get what information I can about his company, and then I'll kill him after he goes to sleep.", Naruto stated.

A worried Sakura was about to argue more when Shikamaru interrupted, "Killing Gato isn't a bad idea, but it may not stop the nuke-nin from going after Kakashi-taicho if their still alive."

Naruto gave the shadow user a quizzical look, "Why do you say that Shika?"

Shikamaru sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position, "If the nuke-nin is still alive then their probably gonna want to get revenge on taicho for not only stopping them from completing their mission, but also injuring him bad enough that the nuke-nin had to run away. 'Cause that's the only reason I can think of for taicho and the others still being alive if the nuke-nin is too."

Sakura looked thoughtful, "Then we need to find a way to stop the nuke-nin too. But how are we going to do that when we don't even know if their alive, let alone where they may be hiding."

Shikamaru didn't answer the kunoichi instead he was staring at Naruto who looked lost in thought, "Naruto, do you know anything about the missing nin?"

Naruto jerked out of his revelry looking sheepish, "Maybe, one of my clones spotted someone picking medicinal herbs in our patrol range, and while that normally wouldn't be all that weird, this person moved like a ninja. I actually got samples of the herbs they picked, I was hoping you'd be able to identify the ones I couldn't Sakura." Sakura nodded and Naruto pulled the herbs samples out of his supply pouch.

Sakura hmmed as she looked over the herbs, "Most of these are used by both civilians and ninja.", The kunoichi separated one herb from the rest and held it up, "But this one is only used by ninja. It helps speed up the replacement of reduced chakra stores. In fact I was hoping to find some of this to give to taicho."

Naruto looked surprised, "Why find it? Don't you carry any in your supply pouch?"

The kunoichi scowled, "No, this herb must be used fresh in order to be effective. Drying it into a powder would make it useless. The more experienced medics have sealing scrolls for medicines like this so that they can keep them fresh, but I haven't learned that yet. If you'll show me where you found this I can give it to taicho, and he'll be on his feet even faster."

Naruto shrugged, "No problem."

Shikamaru cut in, "If this herb needs to be fresh, then the ninja you saw will most likely be back for some more of it tomorrow. So we can set up an ambush."

"What if its the same nin who came after taicho?", Sakura asked.

It was Naruto who answered, "No way, the nin my clone saw was no where near strong enough to have put Kakashi-taicho in such a state. This nin is probably a flunky. But with any luck they'll be close enough to their leader to have some good info for us."

His two teammate's nodded and Shikamaru spoke, "I suggest we stay together tomorrow, and case the clearing where this herb is."

Naruto looked hesitant, "I agree, but I need to keep an eye on Gato."

Sakura bit her lip, "You can send in a couple clones, they'll be able to do the job just fine. Now we need to have a plan for what to do tomorrow."

"We can worry about planning the ambush in the morning. For now it's late and we'll need to be up early to make sure we don't miss the nin. So let's get some sleep." Shikamaru said.

His two teammate's nodded and started to get ready for bed. As soon as everyone was settled Naruto made enough shadow clones to guard their camp, and the three genin slept.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Making Waves part 2

The nuke-nin sighed as he went over his stock of herbs. He had enough herbs to last until his master was better, except for the chakra restoration herb. That pesky little herb had to be fresh to be useful, and to make matters worse, it was rather rare in Wave. He'd been lucky to stumble upon it yesterday, and, even though it would be risky, he would need to go back to that same clearing today. While his master had woken up and was doing quite well considering his injuries; the nuke-nin didn't want to risk his master wearing himself out while the missing-nin couldn't be there to stop him. So, he needed to hurry and get the chakra restoration herb before his master woke up from his medically induced nap.

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As the nuke-nin neared the his destination he paused. There was a noise that sounded like crying coming from the clearing he was headed for. Warily the nuke-nin inched forward to try and get a look into the clearing without being spotted. When he saw what was in the clearing he stopped in surprise. For, in the middle of the clearing there was a little boy, sobbing his eyes out. The little boy was adorable with spiky blond hair and strange whisker marks on cheeks that were still round with baby fat, but it was his sad little eyes that caused the nuke-nin's heart to melt with compassion, the child couldn't have been more than four years old. The nuke-nin went to kneel in front of the little child, and said in a gentle voice, "Hey, what's wrong little one?"

The little boy looked up at the nuke-nin and shudderingly said, "I-I ca-an't find my mo-ommyyyy."

The nuke-nin's heart melted a little more, "Shh, it's all right, I'm sure your mommy is really close to here, and will find you before you know it."

The child wailed louder, "N-nooo I w-wan away b-before the sun came up, still mommy don't find me-eee."

The nuke-nin was frozen with indecision, his master would wake up soon, and he really needed to be back with his herbs. But, this poor little boy was obviously lost, and had been for hours. His mother must be worried sick about him. It wouldn't be safe for such a small child to be out alone in these woods, and the nuke-nin wouldn't be able to forgive himself if this child was killed because he refused to help when he could. So, with a silent plea for his master to forgive him he spoke, "Don't worry little one. I'll help you find your mommy."

The child's cries lessened as he looked at the nuke-nin with hopeful eyes, "W-weally?"

The nuke-nin gave a small smile, "Really."

The child's eyes brightened and he jumped into the nuke-nin's arms, "Fank you!"

The nuke-nin instinctively caught the child, and was surprised by the little one's openness, but also touched. Suddenly the nuke-nin stiffened, he'd felt a small prick, and now he could feel his arms growing numb, and his eyelids, heavy. Alarmed, and confused he pushed the child away, and stared at the little one in shock. Then, no longer able to keep himself upright, he toppled over and his eyelids started to close. Just before he surrendered to oblivion, he saw the child disappear in a puff of smoke, and was replaced by a young teen. The nuke-nin's last conscious thought was, 'Ninja. No.'. Then the world faded away.

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Naruto watched as the surprised eyes of the nuke-nin slipped closed, and tried to remind himself that this nin was likely an enemy, but it still didn't take all the guilt he was feeling away. What he had done was underhanded, and even though it was a small thing, Naruto felt tainted by it. As he looked down at the nuke-nin he had deceived an unpleasant thought drifted through his mind, 'If I feel guilty for something as small as this, how am I ever going to survive the guilt assassinating Gato?'. The blond boy was pulled from his rather morose thoughts by the sound of his teammates dropping down on either side of him. In an attempt to distract himself Naruto walked over to the missing nin and pulled out the senbon that was still lodged in his side. The blond held the weapon at eye level and studied it for a moment. Noticing that the end that had gone into the enemy nin was coated in blood. With a smile Naruto glanced at his teammates before returning his focus back to the slightly bloody weapon, as he said with thoughtful awe, "Hey, can you guys believe that with this weapon we took down the enemy for our first ever independent capture and interrogation?"

Shikamaru gave his friend a look and then shrugged, "I didn't really do anything. Sakura provided the sleeping poison, and you stabbed the guy, I just hid in a tree. So taking down the nin wasn't really a 'we' thing."

Naruto shot a deadpan glare at his teammate, "Your taking what I said waay too literally Shika. This is a momentous occasion! Our team captured a nin of unknown strength for the purpose of interrogation. Without any help!", Naruto's face brightened as an idea struck him, "Hey, hey! We should frame this senbon just the way it is, to commemorate our first time success!"

Sakura stared at her teammate, Shikamaru face palmed. Then Sakura shook her head and smiled. She shouldn't be surprised really. That idea was classic Naruto, and showed all the enthusiasm that made him such a great friend and teammate; so she elbowed Shikamaru to get his attention, "Well it's a bit too sentimental to be a normal ninja thing, but it's not harmful. Do you have a scroll you can seal it into so that it's perfectly preserved for our nutty friend?"

"Troublesome.", Shikamaru sighed, but pulled out an empty sealing scroll anyway, "Here Naruto you can have this to keep the sentimental senbon in."

Naruto jumped and gave a yell of joy before snatching the scroll out of Shikamaru's hand and quickly sealing the senbon into it, then he placed it in a his sealing pouch. "Well now that that's settled we'd better get our guest to his room."

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There are many things that go into a successful interrogation, but the most important thing is presentation. From the moment a prisoner wakes up in captivity to the time when they have revealed all they know; the interrogator must remove all control from the prisoner. Every ninja knew this. So, it was with great shock that the nuke-nin found himself in a fairly comfortable well lit room, instead of strapped down to a very uncomfortable metal chair. In fact the only indication he had that he was really a prisoner and hadn't just had a nightmare about being captured, was that fact that his ankle was chained to the wall with a tamper proof, chakra draining shackle. Needless to say, the missing nin was flummoxed. He was in the process of trying to figure out what his captor was trying to pull by giving him so much freedom, when the ninja that he'd seen right before passing out walked into the room, and sat down backwards on a chair well out of the missing nin's range.

For a few moments the two just sat staring at each other, and the nuke-nin was surprised at what he saw. The boy, for there was really no other age group he could be placed in, couldn't have been any older than 13, and his hitie-ate showed him to be a Konoha ninja. But it was his eyes that filled the missing nin with confusion, the boy looked far too innocent. There was no way this kid had ever broken _anybody _let alone a ninja. So, why was this boy the one in here questioning him? It made no sense. As the missing nin continued to watch the boy he felt himself relaxing and tensed; just because this boy looked innocent didn't mean he was, and the nuke-nin couldn't afford to lower his guard. The missing nin set his jaw in determination and said, "You might as well kill me now. I won't tell you anything. I _don't_ break easily."

A look of genuine surprise flickered across the Konoha nin's face, before it took on a look of... amusement? "Dude you've got it all wrong.", the boy said, "I'm not here to interrogate you, I'm here to negotiate with you."

The nuke-nin's eye's flickered with shock and confusion, "I don't understand. Why would you want to make a deal with me?"

The blond ninja leaned away from the back of the chair, "Well it's not so much you alone that we want to talk with, as it is your boss. After all, he must be pretty strong to have survived against Sharingan no Kakashi.", the boy paused as the missing nin gave a start, "Yes, we know your boss is still alive. They were who you were treating with the medicinal herbs you've been picking."

The nuke-nin stared searchingly at the Konoha ninja, then snorted and looked away, "You're full of it. There's no way you have the authority to make a deal with me, or my boss, and if you did have the authority you wouldn't capture me and hold me prisoner."

The boy tossed his head from side to side, "Weeell you're partially right. We don't have the authority yet, but that's cause we don't know your name. We can't exactly ask Hokage-sama to give us permission to negotiate with ninja we know nothing about can we? As for holding you prisoner, we've done all we can to make you comfortable while ensuring you can't escape, and we've done that in the hopes that, if we do get authority to deal, you will be our go between. Our bosses won't meet until the contract is hashed out, and you will only meet with me. This will show that Konoha really is trying to make a deal with your boss, not just setting up a trap to catch him."

The missing nin shook his head, "That's a pretty plan, but you're acting without any authority_, _and I'd be very surprised if _you _could get it."

"Hey, hey.", the Konoha nin said, "Don't doubt us just yet. Konoha works with nuke-nin all the time; if your boss is someone good, we'll most likely get the authority to deal. All I need to make the request is you're bosses name and yours." The blond leaned forward into the back of the chair, "Now come on, you look like someone who really cares about your comrades isn't it worth the risk of giving your names to me if it may give your _master_ the chance to stop running; to be safe?"

The nuke-nin once again stared searchingly at the boy, then sighed, "My name is Haku, and... my masters name.. is Momochi Zabuza." The newly named Haku turned his head away in doubt, and shame.

The blond gave a gentle smile, "Good to know. Well, as a show of good faith, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. You can look me up in the bingo book if you'd like, but it would probably be a waste of your time. As far as I know, I'm not important enough to have an entry. Now, as I have your names I'll go send out that request for authorization." With that Naruto got up, and started to walk out of the room, but as he reached the door he turned back around, "Oh one more thing, we'll be keeping you here until we get a response from Hokage-sama, and if the response is favorable we'll let you go to inform your boss of our deal." Then Naruto turned and walked out. Sealing the door behind him.

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As soon as the door the the prisoners room was completely shut, Naruto let out a relieved sigh, and then smiled at his friends, "His name is Haku, and, get this, his master is Momochi Zabuza. How's that for lucky?"

Sakura grinned, "Very lucky I'd say. If we can get Momochi to deal, we'll get the credit."

"Now that we have the names we can send this preliminary report to Hokage-sama.", Shikamaru said while writing the names into the report, and then sealing the letter, "Naruto if you shape shift a clone into a carrier pigeon it can be to Konoha by tonight."

Naruto nodded, and did as Shikamaru suggested then sent the Naruto pigeon, with scroll included, off. The blond nin watched the bird fly for a bit before he stiffened and spun around, "The clone I had spying on Gato just dispelled. I now know all I need to drain Gato's funds and dismantle his empire.", Naruto took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "It's time to take him out."

Sakura lurched forward, "No! Don't do this Naruto. Kakashi-taicho will wake up soon, let him do it."

Naruto shook his head, "There is no more time. Gato's planning something, and I need to take him out before those plans become irreversible.", the blond gave Sakura a soft smile, "I don't want to do this, but I have to."

"But-", Sakura said.

"No buts.", Naruto said as he walked toward the door, "Sakura go guard team 7. Shikamaru stay here and watch the prisoner. I'm leaving a clone with both of you so keep me updated." Then Naruto shut the door behind him.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N- Yo! Sorry this chappy is late. I blame the holidays. :)

Chapter 18- Making waves... again.

Naruto silently crouched in a tree right outside Gato's estate, watching Gato parade around with an air of self importance, and his two bodyguards following him like puppies. According to the schedule Gato had been keeping the last few days, it was almost time for the man to head into his office. Naruto knew that would be the perfect time to take down Gato as he never let anyone stay in his office with him for long. Naruto tensed, Gato was heading inside. That meant it was almost time to kill him. The ninja suppressed a shudder, he really didn't want to do this, but wave needed Gato to die. Kakashi was still out, and out of team psych he had the least innocence left, so he should be the one to do this. But dang, he wished that there was another way.

Naruto pulled himself from his thoughts, enough time had passed for Gato to be settled in his office. It was time. The would be assassin took a deep breath to brace himself and tensed his legs in preparation to jump off the branch, then he froze. He felt the point of a kunai pricking at his jugular. Naruto was frantically searching for a way to get out of this situation when he heard a voice say, "Sorry to startle you Naruto, but I wanted to make sure you wouldn't leave before I could talk to you."

Naruto relaxed, "Kakashi-taicho?"

"Very good.", Kakashi said.

"Umm not to step on your toes or anything taicho, but could you take the kunai away from my throat now that you know I'm not leaving?", Naruto asked.

Kakashi pulled the kunai away and Naruto turned to face him, "So...", Kakashi said with a raised brow, "Sakura tells me you're trying to kill Gato."

Naruto flinched, "Sorry taicho, I would have waited for you to wake up, but Gato's planning something. In the last two days he's almost doubled the amount of mercenary he controls. I thought it would be best to take him out before he could carry out his plan."

The jonin smiled, "Don't worry Naruto. While you would normally need the permission of a superior, in this case you did the right thing. However now that I _am _awake I'll be taking over this assassination. Are you sure you know everything you need to properly impersonate Gato?"

Naruto gave an emphatic nod, "Positive taicho."

"Good.", Kakashi stated, "Then tell me everything I need to know to assassinate Gato."

The blond boy looked thoughtful then pulled out a self drawn map of Gato's compound and laid flat on the branch between he and his captain, "Gato has about 200 mercenaries in all, but 50 go out everyday to patrol the village. Another 20 stay here and patrol the estate in the patterns marked here on my map. The other 130 usually stay around the barracks gambling but the only place they're not allowed is Gato's personal wing. So, other then there they could be anywhere on the estate. Aside from the 150 mercs, Gato also has two bodyguards that follow him everywhere, even into his room when he sleeps."

Naruto shook his head and muttered, 'paranoid fool', than continued with his debriefing, "The only place where Gato's guards don't follow him, is his office. There they stand right out side the door. He's in his office right now, and should be there for another two hours without any interference, he hates it when people come into his office. The office itself is located on the second of the three floors in the mansion and has several points of possible entry. The first is tree walking up to this window from either the roof or the ground, but Zabuza is in the mansion just a floor above recuperating and even if can't fight himself, he could still raise an alarm if he sensed chakra use. The other way is an escape tunnel. Gato being the paranoid fool he is I'd figure he'd have one somewhere, and I was right."

Naruto trailed his finger from where it had been resting over Gato's office window, on the map, to a spot in between the barracks and the kitchens, "About twenty paces from the door to the barracks there's a hollow panel, and on the right side at about my arm level there's a switch in between the panels that will open it. On the other side of that panel there's a stairway that leads right to Gato's office. I don't know where the passage opens into Gato's office though. That office is the most heavily guarded part of Gato's base. The _only _time security relaxes is when Gato's inside. That's all I have."

Kakashi sat thinking on what the genin had told him than focused on Naruto, "Good work. This information is very thorough, and should be more than enough for me to succeed. Stay here. I'll come and get you when it's time to assume Gato's identity."

"Yes taicho." Naruto said, and watched as his captain snuck into Gato's stronghold.

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Naruto sat alert waiting for Kakashi to return. He was surprised when his taicho returned after what couldn't have been more than a half hour, cleaning a kunai with a bloody rag.

"It's done.", Kakashi said, "Get into your new identity." The jonin stretched the still dirty kunai towards towards Naruto.

With a disgusted look on his face, the boy took the dirty kunai and licked off a bit of the blood. The blond took on the blood transformation of Gato with a shudder then snuck into his new office.

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The day after Naruto took over as Gato, Sakura was sneaking through the trees keeping an eye on team 7 with a Naruto clone right behind her; she was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. Ino seemed to be waffling between clinging adoringly to Sasuke and angrily ignoring him. Sasuke was, of course, being his usual 'I better then you so leave me alone' self, and Choji seemed to be ignoring everything so he could better focus on eating his many bags of chips. Watching team 7 made Sakura sad; they looked so green. The pink haired girl couldn't help but wonder if they had grown at all, and she was even a little thankful to Ibiki-sensei. The guy was total scum and really shouldn't have been trusted with kids, but if team psych had ever looked like team 7 did now; then he'd done her and her teammates a favor.

Sakura pulled herself out of her thoughts when she landed on a tree branch that gave her a good view of the bridge. The pink haired girl studied team 7 to make sure nothing had happened to them, but as she looked at them she grew concerned. Kakashi-taicho was moving forward with extreme caution. Sakura jerked her eyes to the bridge to and was startled to find the bridge covered in a thick unnatural fog. Normally on a bridge fog wouldn't seem all that odd, even fog that was thick enough to be cut with a knife. It _was _on a bridge after all, but this fog was filled with chakra, and _that _made it unnatural. Sakura tensed, and watched the fog closely for any sign of the ninja that was no doubt hiding within, she also kept an eye on team 7's progress so that she could move forward at the soonest possible moment. "Naruto", Sakura said, "inform Shika and your original of this development."

The Naruto clone nodded and created another replica of himself, then he destroyed it sending the info to the rest of the team. Sakura watched the clone do this than turned her attention back to team 7, and signaled the clone to get ready to move, team 7 was almost into the fog. As soon as all of team seven had walked into the fog Sakura, and the Naruto clone moved. They were almost to the fog when they heard a voice shout, "Hatake! Where's Haku!".

"Zabuza.", The Naruto clone whispered.

"Oh crap.", was Sakura's brilliant response than she turned to Naruto, "What should we do? If Zabuza hurts anyone, or gets himself killed we won't be able to make a deal with him."

The clone sat in thoughtful silence for a moment, "I'm going to send another message to the others, and ask for suggestions. Than we can go from there." Sakura nodded and watched as the clone sent the message, then they both waited for a few moments before the Naruto clone's eyes glazed over than he snapped back to himself with a frown, "More news. Shika just got a note from Hokage-sama with permission to make a deal. But my original sent a suggestion, he says I should go out there as Gato and order Zabuza to stop, since Gato's his boss he might just listen."

Sakura frowned, "I don't know, Zabuza sounds pretty ticked I think the only way to stop him will be to show him that Haku's alright."

The clone nodded, "I know, but-", the clone's eye's once again glazed over, he came back to himself smiling, "My original is on his way to the hide out than he a Shika will head here with Haku. I just need to stall." With that the Naruto clone used his special transformation to turn into Gato and began to walk onto the bridge.

"Remember to not let yourself get hit.", Sakura called quietly, "It would be very odd if the civilian Gato disappeared in a puff of smoke."

The clone rolled his eyes, "I know Sakura." Than the clone rushed into the fog.

.

.

Sasuke was annoyed. His sensei was in a wicked awesome fight, and where was he? Guarding their idiotic client with his two pathetic teammates. To make it even worse, he couldn't even see the fight because of all the fog. The Uchiha was itching to get in there and prove his skill, but Kakashi-sensei had ordered his to guard the client. He was the only one good enough to do it, and since it would look bad if he failed his first C-rank mission he figured the sacrifice was worth it. So, he wouldn't interfere.

Just as Sasuke came to this unsatisfying conclusion he heard a voice shout, "Zabuza!", The Uchiha listened as the sounds of fighting he had been hearing were silenced. Then he heard the strange voice again, "Zabuza!". Sasuke watched as the fog began to lift, and as the fog lifted he saw the source of the unknown voice, a strange short man who looked like he was stuck seventies fashion. He had no idea who this man was, until he herd Zabuza question with a quizzical look on his face, "Gato? What are you doing here?"

Sasuke swung his head back to the now named Gato, so this was the man who had hired Zabuza. If this man was gone chances were Zabuza would leave to. The Uchiha stealthily slipped a kunai from his pouch as Gato began to speak, "I'm here to order you back! It does me no good if you die because you were an idiot. Pull back until you can actually _kill _the target I gave yo- Gak!". Gato just barely managed to dodge a kunai wielded by Sasuke.

"Sasuke!", Kakashi shouted, "Stand down!"

Sasuke ignored his sensei and kept attacking. Dodging the first strike must have be luck, Gato wouldn't survive again. The Uchiha slashed his kunai aiming for Gato's throat Gato gave another yelp and lept back.

Kakashi once again called to his student, "Sasuke! I mean it! Stand down NOW!"

Sasuke once again ignored his sensei and took another swipe at Gato. Gato once again gave a yelp and jumped back. Bringing himself dangerously close to the edge of the bridge.

Kakashi gave an annoyed grunt and ran toward his rebellious student, determined to stop him. But he was too late, Sasuke gave one more vicious slash and Gato jumped too far his feet landed on the very edge of the bridge. Giving him just enough time to look surprised before he toppled over.

"**AAAA**HHHHhhhhh."

All was silent on the bridge as it sank in that Gato was dead. Choji and Ino shared similar looks of shock. Tazuna had a look of joyful disbelief on his face, and Kakashi looked furious, "You crossed several lines today Sasuke, and you'll be punished for each and every one of them. I have a battle to finish go stand with your teammates, and _stay there. _If you disobey my order again you will _not _like the consequences."

Sasuke gave an arrogant huff, but followed his sensei's order. Kakashi turned back to Zabuza to find the nuke-nin gone. With a frustrated sigh, and a shake of his head the jonin turned to Tazuna, "It should be safe to work if you'd like to Tazuna."

Tazuna snapped out of his dazed look and cleared his throat, "Right, of course. Work.", than Tazuna trundled off to organize his workers.

Team 7 took up their normal positions around the bridge, with Ino shooting shy curious glances at Sasuke, "Umm Sasuke?"

"What?", Sasuke asked in an annoyed voice.

Ino bit her lip, "You... This was your first kill right?"

Sasuke grunted, "So?"

Ino looked at Sasuke with worry, "W-well don't you-... Are you okay?"

The Uchiha sent a sharp glance her way, "Why wouldn't I be? It's just death."

Ino gave a shocked gasp and pulled away from Sasuke. She once again wondered why she had a crush on this boy?

The Naruto clone who was standing upside down on the bottom of the bridge close enough to hear Sasuke's statement snorted, "Idiot.", then he continued back to where Sakura was hiding.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N Hey all! I broke 300 reviews! Woohoo! To thank you all who reviewed and to celebrate. I'm updating early :) I'm sure you've all noticed the rather short chapters I've been doing lately, and I'd like to explain them. I'm hoping that by doing shorter chapters it will be easier for me to update weekly. Enjoy this weeks chapter. :)

Chapter 19- Making Waves... The final installment! (of the arc not the story,...cause that would kinda suck. :))

The Naruto clone dropped down next to Sakura just minutes before the original Naruto showed up with Haku and Shikamaru. Sakura turned to Naruto and frowned, "Naruto you're too late. Zabuza retreated about five minutes ago."

Naruto stared at her in shock, "What? No dangit! Now we'll never be able to make this deal!"

"Well-", Haku started, "I _might _know where he is. But, it's not certain."

Naruto shrugged, "Lead us there Haku it's the best shot we've got."

Haku gave a nod and took off, with team psych trailing behind him.

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Zabuza sat resting in the pre-arranged safe house. He had hoped that Haku would somehow manage to escape and make his way here, but that wasn't the case. Except for the getaway boat, this place was empty, and had been for a long time. Zabuza growled in frustration and chucked a rock at the opposite wall of the cave. He never should have taken this mission, it had been a total disaster from the start. Haku was missing, Mizu and Gozu were most likely dead, or in a Konoha prison cell, and Gato was freaking dead. So, for all his loses he wouldn't see a single red cent! What was worse was that he'd exposed himself a lot on this mission which meant that the Kiri hunter nin would probably soon be here. His best option for survival was to abandon Haku and leave the country. But that thought rankled him.

With a tired sigh Zabuza started to prepare the boat for his getaway. Then he tensed and swung his sword behind him, earning a startled cry from the intruder he'd felt. Knowing that he'd failed to hit the intruder Zabuza spun around and prepared to attack again when he saw Haku standing behind the intruder and froze in surprise. Soon Zabuza's surprise faded to be replaced by anger. The intruder was a Konoha nin, and Haku was not in anyway bound. "Haku, What have you done?", Zabuza said in a voice that was filled with angry condemnation.

Haku flinched back in surprise and shame, but before he had a chance to defend himself the Konoha nin spoke, "Hey take it easy. Haku's just trying to help you."

Zazbuza glared, "How! By turning me over to the enemy?"

The Konoha nin shook his head, "Naw, I don't think I could take you down on your worst day, I'm not that good yet. But, I can run away pretty fast which was why I was chosen for this mission."

"Mission?", Zabuza asked.

"Yeah mission.", was the Konoha nin's reply, "You see, my team's been given the task, by Hokage-sama, to negotiate a deal with you. My Superior thought it would be polite to send me as a sort of non threatening gesture. So you see Haku didn't betray you he's been working to help improve your situation. Now I know you're probably not all that interested, but will you at least listen to our initial offer? You never know you might like it."

Zabuza stared at the talkative runt, then nodded, "Fine, but Haku comes to my side first, and you give me your name."

Haku jumped behind Zabuza before the boy had a chance to respond, "Well, that takes care of Haku. As for me my names Uzumaki Naruto!", The newly named Naruto gave a grandiose bow and a smile, "At your service."

Zabuza shook his head, "Get on with the offer kid."

Naruto nodded, "Of course. Now to start off..."

.

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A week had passed since the first negotiation meeting with Zabuza, and now there was a signed and sealed contract ready to be handed over to Hokage-sama with the mission report. As soon as the contract had been signed Zabuza and Haku had disappeared, and Tazuna, no longer afraid of attack, had managed to finish the bridge in record time. Today was the day team 7 would be leaving over the as yet unnamed bridge to report success on their first B-ranked mission. Team psych unfortunately had to stay in town a few more days to tie up some lose ends, but they wanted to see their fellow team off. So they watched as team 7 waved one last goodbye to the adoring people of wave. Sakura sighed, "You know it's kind of depressing that we did most of the work and yet, team 7's getting all the credit. Having to keep a low profile sucks."

Naruto nodded, but kept most of his attention on Tazuna who appeared to be in the process of naming the bridge. "This bring is a symbol of heroism.", Tazuna started, "So I think it's only fair that the bridge be named after the hero who saved our country. Therefore I name this bridge... The Super Sasuke Bridge!", all the people of wave cheered that the bridge would be named after the person who had killed Gato.

The three non-residents, however, had very different reactions. Sakura broke down laughing at the sheer absurdity, Shikamaru sighed and muttered troublesome under his breath while making a mental note to make sure Sasuke never found out about this; he was arrogant enough already. It was Naruto who had the most interesting reaction though; as soon as he heard the bridges new name his face became more blank than either of his teammates had ever seen it. Naruto stared intently at the bridge then he turned to Shikamaru and asked, "Hey Shika can I have say, 110 explosive tags extra fiery?"

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Three days later found team 7 in the Hokage's office having just finished giving their mission report to a frowning Hokage, "It sounds like you had quite the adventure. But I must confess Sasuke I'm very concerned about your blatant disregard for your sensei's orders. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I thought if Gato was dead then Zabuza would stop attacking, and I was right."

The Third's frown deepened, "So you believe you were correct to ignore your jonin's orders?"

Sasuke nodded, "Yes Hokage-sama. My leader's orders made no sense and, in fact, seemed to show a sympathy for the enemy."

Kakashi stiffened in anger at his students implication, and Sarutobi's face darkened, "Do you dare accuse your sensei of treason genin? Hatake Kakashi is one of my most loyal ninja and you insult him with your implication."

Sasuke's eye's widened in surprise, "I didn't mean to accuse my sensei of _treason _Hokage-sama. Merely, an unwillingness to kill the enemy."

"And if I told you that we had a secret team in the area performing the true priority mission, which your mutinous actions nearly caused the failure of?"

The young Uchiha's eyes widened. "I had no idea, Hokage-sama. If that was the case I should have been notified."

"Your team leader was notified, and he gave you the orders that would best see the mission carried out." Sasuke jutted out his lower lip stubbornly, and The Third shook his head in disappointment, "You have much to learn about 'need to know'. Remember this Sasuke there will often be times when your sensei will have more information available to him than you do, and while his orders may make perfect sense to him they my not make perfect sense to you. Kakashi had a good reason for ordering you down, Gato was trying to get Zabuza to _leave. _If You had killed Gato, and Zabuza had chosen to stay you could have been in a very bad situation. You should have followed Kakashi's orders, and since you failed to follow his orders I think it only fair that Kakashi chose your punishment." Sarutobi looked to Kakashi and nodded for him to speak.

Kakashi looked thoughtfully at Sauske for a moment, "Right now your duty is to follow the orders of your taicho, but not only did you fail to follow a direct order _three times, _you also tried to cast blame on me to get yourself out of trouble, which shows a great deal of immaturity on your part. Therefore your punishment for your insubordination will be that you will _not _be allowed to enter the chunin exams, as you are obviously not ready to be a chunin."

The Third nodded his consent to Kakashi's chosen punishment but added, "A very good punishment for a first offense, as it will keep Sasuke from gaining a promotion."

Sasuke looked at his teacher with wide eyes that quickly began to show anger, "I killed a tyrant. I should be being rewarded for that. Not punished."

Hiruzen shook his head, "Who you killed has no bearing on this matter Sasuke, but rather that you killed against orders. I stand by Kakashi's decision. You will not be entered in this years chunin exams. Now, you three genin are dismissed."

The three genin saluted and exited. As soon as they were out of sight Sarutobi turned to Kakashi, "Now how did team psych do?"

The jonin, "They did very well. If it were in my power I'd recommend them for the position of chunin based on the meritorious way in which they carried out this mission."

The Third smiled in pride, and marked his subordinate's comment down in team psych's file, "Good. Now tell me a bit about the negotiations with Zabuza."

Kakashi assented, "Basically, we gave Zabuza enough money to aid in his rebellion and he agreed to be a contact within his village. He'll give us any worthwhile information that doesn't betray Kiri and will, occasionally aid us."

Sarutobi once again smiled, "Very good. You are dismissed Kakashi.", Kakashi saluted and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Leaving his Hokage to have a thorough going over of Zabuza's agreement.

.

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Naruto was having a good day. A few hours ago his team had gotten back from wave, and after giving Hokage-jiji their report they had gotten an official commendation. After that he'd been able to revel in the joy that was ramen. Now he was in a training field working on improving his wind manipulation. His was focusing hard on tweaking the chakra just right to get the desired result when he was distracted by a voice calling his name. Naruto flew back in an explosion of unstable chakra, and was about to give the interrupter a piece of his mind when he saw it was Danzo. Naruto jumped to his feet with a wide grin on his face, "Hey Band-aid! Are you here to teach me a new technique?"

Danzo gave Naruto a small affectionate smile before his face took on a very somber look, "I'm afraid not today Naruto."

The boy looked confused, "Well uh not that I mind your company, but if your not here to train me, why are you here?"

Danzo's eye's looked haunted, "I've been helping Sarutobi keep a secret from you, and in the process have been doing you a terrible wrong. I'm here to atone for this sin in what small way I can, by telling you what I believe you have a right to know."

Naruto looked confused, "What secret?"

"Naruto you are the son of Namikaze Minato, our revered Fourth Hokage.", Danzo said somberly.

The boy jerked back as if he had been slapped, "W—what? No. No Jiji would've told me. T-this can't be true."

Danzo shook his head, "It is true Naruto, and I'm so sorry for my part in keeping it from you. Hiruzen wanted to wait until you could handle this news, and at first I agreed with him, but you've grown so much these past few months. I couldn't justify keeping this secret from you any longer, I already feel such a terrible guilt. Please forgive me for my part in keeping your heritage from you Naruto, and please understand that I would never have kept this from you so long had it not been at the request of my own friend Sarutobi."

Naruto shook his head, "No. No way is this the truth Jiji _would _have told me. He knows how much I trust him, he wouldn't betray me this way."

Danzo just looked sorrowfully at Naruto, "It's the truth Naruto, if you need proof go to the home Minato Namikaze. All the entrances there are sealed with blood seals, only someone with _Namikaze _blood can unlock them.", Danzo turned and started to walk away, but before he left the clearing he stopped to say one more thing, "In Hiruzen's defense, he kept your linage from you in order to protect you. I probably should not have told, but I couldn't bear keeping this secret from you any longer. I'm sorry Naruto. I hope you can forgive me." With that Danzo disappeared, leaving a confused Naruto in a now broken reality.

.

.

Shikamaru was enjoying a nice post mission nap. The Wave mission had been a success, his team had gotten a personal commendation from the Hokage, and now Shikamaru was getting a well deserved time of laziness. Unfortunately for him his lovely lazy time was interrupted by Naruto frantically pounding on his window. Shikamaru let Naruto in and looked upon his friends pale countenance with concern, "Naruto what's wrong?".

The blond boy shakily made his way over tho Shikamaru's bed and plopped down than turned haunted eyes on his friend, and said in a near monotone voice, "I just saw Danzo, and he told me that the _Fourth Hokage _was my _father._"

Shikamaru collapsed into his desk chair in shock, "Whoa."

A little light entered Naruto's eyes, "Too shocked for even a 'troublesome'?"

The Nara shook away his shock and gave his friend a smirk, "Troublesome.", Then his face took on a serious look, "Do you believe him?"

Naruto shuddered, "I don't know. I- I trust Danzo, a little. But I trust Jiji more, and- well I have to choose who to trust. Either Danzo is lying to me, or if he's telling the truth; then that means that Jiji has been lying to me every timeI've asked him about my parents.", Naruto's eyes filled with tears, "I-I _can't _believe Jiji would lie to me like that, but at the same time, he might. He lied to me about the Kyuubi. What if this is just another thing he thought I couldn't know?"

Naruto's teary eye's pierced into his best friends eyes begging for an answer, and Shikamaru didn't quite know what to say, "Is there a way to prove your the Fourth's son?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, Danzo told me the Fourth's house is locked up with blood seals. If I'm his son I should be able to open anyone of them with a drop of my blood."

"So why don't you try? That way you'll know for sure if Danzo's lying or telling the truth.", Shikamaru said.

Naruto looked tortured, "I'm scared. If Danzo is telling the truth than the person I've trusted the longest, the person I trust _most. _Has been _lying _to me."

"Do you want me to come with you? You know, so you're not alone when you find out?", Shikamaru asked.

Naruto looked at his friend then gave a small smile, "Yeah, I'd appreciate that."

.

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A few minutes later Naruto was standing outside the Namikaze house with his best friend beside him, trying to get enough courage to place a drop of blood on a seal. The task really shouldn't be this hard, but it was. Chances were Danzo was lying. Trying to gain his trust or something. After all Jiji knew how much not knowing about his parents hurt Naruto, there was no way he'd keep such an important secret from him. Finally Naruto took a deep breath bit his finger and smeared his blood of the seal. The lock opened with a click, and the blond collapsed. Danzo had been telling the truth, and Jiji had, yet again, lied to him. Naruto brokenly whispered, "What am I gonna do now?".


	20. Chapter 20

A/N Yo! I have a new poll up on my profile page that has to do with updating, please go and check it out. Thanks, and enjoy the chapter. :) Oh! And Happy New Year! :) Btw this will probably be the last update I do until after the poll has been closed. Since the poll has to do with updating.

Chapter 20

Naruto stormed down the halls of the Hokage tower. A look of such pure anger on his face that many of the people he passed wondered whether the ANBU would be needed, and others wondered if the Kyuubi had managed to gain some sort of influence over its host. But the one thing all were certain of was that it would be a very bad idea to get in Naruto's way. Naruto was unaware of the affect he was having on the occupants of the Hokage tower, as his total focus was on finding the Hokage.

Naruto finally found the Sandaime in the mission room giving a mission to team 8, but he didn't care. He would speak to the Hokage now and nothing would stop him.

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Sarutobi Hiruzen's day had been annoyingly normal. His paperwork was all bland, and the amount had been average. Now he was in the mission room giving D-ranks to whiny genin, and as amusing as it was to mess with genin, it was still painfully normal. Yes, Hiruzen needed something abnormal to happen, and as he listened to Kiba rant about their newest mission while Hinata tried to calm him down, he prayed that _something_ would happen soon. Just a few minutes later, the doors to the mission room were thrown inward, and behind the doors stood Naruto looking angrier than Hiruzen had ever seen him. As the Professor looked upon the enraged face of Naruto he began to doubt the intelligence of his prayer. It was as Sarutobi was pondering this that Naruto spoke, "I need to speak with you Hokage-sama. Now."

Hiruzen was very worried now. Naruto never referred to him by his proper title; in fact, he always called him old man. What could have happened to make Naruto address him as such? "What is wrong Naruto?" The Third asked.

For the first time since finding out the truth Naruto's angry mind focused on something other than talking to the Third, and as his rage-filled eyes took in team 8, and various paperwork ninja, he decided his conversation with the Hokage required more privacy. So, as he brought his furious eyes back onto the Third he spoke in a voice shaking in anger, "I want to speak to you on about a certain S-ranked secret so perhaps we should go somewhere more private."

Sarutobi straightened with worry as he heard Naruto's answer. What happened with the Kyuubi to make Naruto so angry? Whatever it was it needed to be resolved immediately. So the Sandiame cleared his throat, "I see. Then perhaps we should retire to my private office," the Third turned to the only jonin in the room, "Kurenai-chan, please stay here and oversee things until Iruka-kun arrives in 30 minutes." At Kurenai's nod Sarutobi turned back to Naruto, "Now Naruto let us go to my office." With that both the Third and Naruto exited the office, leaving behind many ninja who were left wondering what was going on with the usually happy, idiotic blonde.

.

.

Sarutobi wasn't sure what was happening with Naruto, but he decided it would be best to find out while sitting down. So, he began moving around his desk for his chair as he asked, "What is this all about Naruto?"

"Why didn't you tell me the Fourth was my father!" Naruto shouted.

Sarutobi who had just begun to sit down allowed himself to collapse into his chair in shock as he demanded, "Who told you that!"

Naruto's angry face grew cold, "I may pretend to be an idiot _Hokage-sama_, but I'm not. It isn't that hard to figure out, after all I could be the Fourth's miniature clone. In the past I've wondered if I was the Yondaime's son, but I've always dismissed it because I _knew _if I were his son you would tell me. But finally, too many things pointed to me being that _pig's _son! So, I decided to prove once and for all that I wasn't his son, by going to put my blood on the blood seal locking _that savages _door! And you know what Happened? The door _unlocked_ and opened! Now tell me _Hokage-sama_! Why didn't you tell me?"

Hiruzen wanted to flinch each time Naruto called him Hokage instead of Jiji, but he understood Naruto's anger, and knew he was even deserving of it, so he was willing to let that slide, but, when Naruto started insulting the Fourth, Hiruzen started to feel offended. Minato was a good friend to Sarutobi, and he had sacrificed everything to save Konoha. Sarutobi would not allow anyone, even Minato's son, to speak badly of the Fourth. However, he would reason with Naruto and not allow his own anger to control him. So, as Naruto finished his tirade he calmly replied, "I didn't tell you of your heritage to protect you. Your father had many enemies and if they knew he had a son they would stop at nothing to kill you in order to stop you from becoming the next yellow flash. I decided the the fewer people who knew about your lineage the better. Now-"

Before Hiruzen could continue his speech Naruto interrupted, "It's all well and good wanting to keep who my father is a secret, I understand that, and agree with it. But why didn't you tell me! Don't I have a right to know any of the important information about myself _before _it has to be dragged out of you? I can understand about the Kyuubi, and waiting until you were sure it wouldn't mess with my head to tell me, but what possible excuse could you have for not telling me that that _vermin _was my father?"

Hiruzen had been doing a good job reining in his anger until Naruto once again insulted the Fourth. Upon hearing the insult Sarutobi shot out of his chair, and slammed his hands on his desk as he shouted, "You will not insult the Yondaime again! He is a hero who willingly sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi and protect Konoha."

Naruto's anger drove him to take a step forward as he yelled, "Don't you dare defend that _monster_! Sure if all he had been trying to do was protect Konoha then I might be more willing to forgive him for sealing the Kyuubi in me, but that wasn't his motivation for forcing this burden on me. He wanted me to be a weapon! No matter how much you try and pretty up what he did to me by saying he was _just_ doing it to protect Konoha, I know the truth. He wanted Konoha to have a jinchuuriki, its very own weapon to lord over the other hidden villages."

Sarutobi sunk back into his chair as he stared at Naruto, and wondered just how much he knew, but he couldn't give up now, Naruto _had_ to believe this truth, or he may become uncooperative, "That's not true Naruto. The Fourth was only trying to protect Konoha, it broke his heart to seal Kyuubi into you."

Naruto snorted, "Oh I have no doubt that that sorry excuse for a father was trying to protect Konoha, but don't insult my intelligence by trying to misdirect me. No-one in Konoha knows more about the Bijuu and their jinchuuriki than me, and know what else I know? I know that you don't need to seal a Bijuu into a human to contain it. In fact, I read that they have managed to seal all the Bijuu up to the eight-tails into jars. So unless _you_ want to insult that pig don't tell me that the Fourth, rumored to be the greatest seal-master to come out of Konoha, _didn't_ know that sealing the Kyuubi into a jar was possible."

"But you're right, I'm sure that wretch was trying to protect Konoha, but not just on that night. No, he was trying to create a long term protection by making me into a weapon. I can see his logic, truly I can, but I still see him as a pathetic father, because no parent who truly loves their child would, first, basically ensure that their child was left an orphan, and then, to ensure the crappyness of their child's life, make them into a weapon, and in the eyes of pretty much everyone something less than human. So, while he may have been a great Hokage, he didn't even touch the lowest standard when it came to being a father, and I will never forgive him."

Hiruzen was stunned at the intensity of Naruto's anger; in all the years that Naruto had been neglected and ignored, never once had he exhibited such fury, and yet here he was, and all Sarutobi could think was, 'So this is what Naruto is like when he is betrayed.' Still, it saddened Sarutobi to see Naruto so angry. Naruto was meant to be light, and happiness, he should be a sun that warms hearts and inspires loyalty; he shouldn't be this dark cloud of ire, and for the first time Hiruzen questioned the wisdom of his choice to keep the truth of his heritage from Naruto.

But he had to stop Naruto before he lost everything that made him comparable to the sun, there could be nothing more heartbreaking than that, and he was determined to help Naruto see how wonderful the Yondaime was, "I understand how you feel Naruto, but you need to forgive your father. He was a good man, and he loved you so much; it would break his heart if he knew how much you hated him. So please-"

The Sandaime was once again cut off as Naruto shouted, "Did you even hear everything I just said! Why aren't you listening to me! The Fourth is dead! And he died making me into a weapon! There is no way he loved me, or he wouldn't have made me into this thing that's less than human! He was nothing, but a low life, hotheaded _monster_!"

Sarutobi winced at each insult Naruto said, growing angrier and angrier at Naruto's disrespect, but when Naruto once again referred to Minato as a monster he could no longer hold back his displeasure. So, he slammed his hand down on his desk and hollered, "That's enough! You have no idea what you're talking about and I will not stand here as you insult the greatest achievement of one of my dearest friends!"

Naruto's once stormy face became calm as he took in what the Third had said, "I think I understand now. You will always see those in your past as perfect, and those in your present as pawns. Even your own family. I get why Asuma-sensei doesn't get along with you now. He's seen you for what you really are. A chess master. And all of us shinobi are your pawns. You know what's even worse? You are so willing to do whatever it takes to protect this village, and be the perfect Hokage, that you'll even betray and use the people you love. No wonder my father used me to make a weapon. After all, he learned everything about being Hokage from you."

Naruto's face took on a look of determination as he continued, "Well guess what? I refuse to be your pawn, or my father's. I will _never _use the Kyuubi's chakra, unless it's the only way to save the village, and I'll become as strong as I need to, to make sure I never need the Kyuubi's power. Also, as a shinobi my duty is to obey the orders of the Hokage, but know this, my loyalty is no longer yours, I will protect this village with my life because the people I love, love this village. But, unless it will help the village, I will _never_ protect you. Now with your permission _Hokage-sama_, I will take my leave." With that Naruto gave a formal bow and turned to walk out the door.

Hiruzen sat unable to move after all the painful things Naruto had said, and the saddest thing was that the Third knew most of what Naruto had said was true. As he watched Naruto begin to leave he saw an image superimposed over it. It was the image of his son Asuma as he left to go join the 12 ninja guardians, because Asuma could no longer stand to be near his father. Sarutobi couldn't stand to see Naruto leave the same way his son had, so in desperation he cried, "Wait!", as his call echoed throughout the office Naruto paused in the doorway with his back towards Sarutobi, but he cocked his head back toward the Third as he continued speaking, "I'm so sorry Naruto, please forgive this old man."

Naruto stayed in the door a moment longer before he shook his head and kept on walking, not once looking back, and leaving behind him in the private office of the Sandaime Hokage, a tired, heartbroken man.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N- Hey all! The poll results are in and the winner is... Long and infrequent! So I'll be posting Around 5000 words about every month, for this arc at least( it may take less time but, well, life is needy). :) Also, sorry for the long wait, but this arc is giving me a headache. There is so much that needs to happen and I'm having a hard time keeping all of it strait. Yet another reason why I will only be updating once a month for this arc. Oh and I got a review that pointed out something I should clarify. The Yondaime's house is _not _an estate or anything like it. It's just a house bought by a family man to raise a family in. Just like the average houses in Konoha. It's nothing special. Also, the Fourth will not belong to a clan in this story, whether he's an orphan or his parents are civilians I never bothered to decide on, because it doesn't really matter. But, the Fourth doesn't have a clan, he isn't filthy rich, except for his remarkable shinobi skills, he was completely normal, and aside from a bit of genetics, you really can't pass on skills posthumously, and that's all that the Fourth had to leave Naruto. Naruto will not inherit a ton of money or quick power ups from his parents in this story. He will get something though. :)

Chapter 21- What? Spy?

Shikamaru stared blankly at the retreating back of Naruto. He hadn't been all that surprised when his friend collapsed after the gate to the Fourths home popped open. Heck he would've collapsed too if he'd found out he was the Fourths son. But then Naruto had growled angrily and taken off down the street headed for the Hokage tower. After Naruto's distinctive orange outfit was no longer visible, Shikamaru sighed. He should probably catch up. Naruto was, no doubt, angry and he wasn't likely to do anything intelligent right now.

He turned his head toward the Hokage monument, and stared at the likeness of the Yondaime. He traced his eyes over the spiky hair and the determined set of his mouth and couldn't help but wonder how the heck anyone had missed that connection. Sure the resemblance wasn't perfect, but it was close enough that _someone _should have noticed. With a shake of his head Shikamaru made a mental note to have Naruto order everyone to work on their observational awareness when he became Hokage. For now though, his, at times rash, friend was no doubt headed into a bad situation and he needed to stop him. So with another sigh Shikamaru reached over and shut the still open gate the Fourth's home and took off after Naruto.

It didn't take long for Shikamaru to figure out where his friend would go; after finding out that there was a major secret about you, well, you'd go to the one who you felt should have told you, and confront them on why they hadn't. That seemed logical, in a very emotional way at least. So Shikamaru took the most direct course, over the roofs, to the Hokage tower. He paused when he got there and saw Naruto just going through the door. Good. then he wasn't too late to stop his friend from doing something stupid. He lept from the roof and landed on the ground in a crouch before he took off running Toward the same door. He made it through the lobby without any problems but when he got to the second floor one of the secretaries yelled for him to stop. Feeling that what he was doing was a bit more important than listening to a secretary he kept going. But when he got to the next floor he was tackled.

Shikamaru shakily looked at the one who had tackled him and frowned when he saw his chunin cousin, the genin was about to lay into him when when Shikamaru's cousin beat him to it, "Oi Shika what are you doin running through the halls of the Hokage tower like a mad man?"

"I'm trying to catch up to Naruto, and I saw him come this way.", Shikamaru said.

His cousin's face lit up in understanding, "Ooooh the Uzumaki kid. Between you an' me I think you should avoid him for awhile. That kid's on the war path. In fact there's a bet goin around to see if the ANBU will need to get involved."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "That's _why _I need to catch up to him. Now, if you'll excuse me." With that the genin slipped around his cousin and once again took off down the halls this time watching out for people who looked like they were getting ready to tackle him. With luck he manged to dodge everyone who was trying to stop him, not that there were many, he was only a genin after all, and a known one at that. A small sarcastic part of Shikamaru's mind pointed out to him that it wasn't so much luck as Gai-sensei's training that allowed him to dodge everyone. Shikamaru inwardly shuddered and cheerfully beat that tiny sarcastic voice into silence, he didn't care if the results were extraordinary, nothing was worth Gai-sensei's training.

On the top floor Shikamaru stopped in the mission assignment room with an exhale. Most of the ninja gave him a strange look before carrying on, it was only a genin and they tended to be so excitable, if Shikamaru could read their thoughts he probably would have been offended, but he didn't have that talent; and besides he was being distracted by a worried Iruka-sensei, "Shikamaru, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

Shikamaru searchingly swept his eyes over the room before looking at Iruka-sensei, "Yeah I'm fine. I'm looking for Naruto, is he here?"

Iruka's already worried eyes filled with more worry at the mention of Naruto, "Yes he's been talking with Hokage-sama for a few minutes now. But, everyone's talking about how strangely Naruto is acting. Shikamaru do you know what's wrong with him?"

The Nara thinned his lips in concern, "I do but it's not really my place to talk about it. If you want to know you should ask Naruto, but I wouldn't ask today. His emotions are a little high right now you know?"

Iruka gave a disappointed nod, then looked around, "Well I've got to get back to work, but if you would wait for Naruto and make sure he's OK I'd appreciate it."

Shikamaru gave a nod, "Yeah, I'll just wait on the bench outside Hokage-sama's chambers." With that the young Nara went to wait for his friend.

It couldn't have been more than five minutes before Naruto came walking out of the Hokage's office. Shikamaru was immediately up and walking beside him in silence. It was Naruto who broke the silence as he paused in front of the stairs looking down the the next level and said to Shikamaru, "I disowned Hokage-sama as my grandfather."

The Nara jerked back in surprise, "Whoa, Naruto don't you think you came to that decision a little quickly? I mean Hokage-sama's been looking after you for your whole life. Isn't this kind of an extreme reaction?"

Naruto jerked his head to look at Shikamaru, "No. I'm not coming to this decision too quickly. This is no more than what Hokage-sama deserves."

Shikamaru looked intently at his friend, "Whether you think it's what the Hokage deserves or not, you need to remember that Hokage-sama is the leader of the village. He holds your career in the palm of hand. Even if you don't like it a bad idea to get on his bad side. Now, please just- just take a few days to cool down and then come back and patch things up with Hokage-sama. Your career will be better for it."

Naruto thoughtfully looked at the ground before sighing and turning to look at his friend, "I understand your logic and thank you for trying to help me but, I don't care about my career right now, and I am _not _going to have any sort of relationship with that chess master." Naruto turned away from Shikamaru and started down the stairs. The Nara gave a disappointed sigh and shake of his head before following after his friend. Naruto still needed to be kept out of trouble and even if he hadn't done that great a job thus far he still felt that he ought to try.

Iruka had watched the serious conversation his two former students had had. He may not have been able to hear them, but he really didn't need to, to know that something was very wrong with Naruto. He worriedly watched both the boys head out of his sight and made a silent promise to himself that he would take Naruto out for a bowl of ramen and see if he could help. But for now he'd follow Shikamaru's advice and let Naruto cool down. Plan of action in place Iruka went back to work, but not without a lot on his mind to distract him.

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**A WEEK LATER**

Sakura had missed something. She didn't know what, yet, or when whatever it was had happened; but she knew she had missed something. There was just no explanation for the barely hidden animosity Naruto was directing toward the Hokage, or the sadness that was clear in Hokage-sama's eyes every time he looked at Naruto. Her team was in the Sandiame's inner office for details on a secret mission, but she was having a really hard time paying attention to the briefing, she couldn't help it what had happened to cause this rift between Naruto and the man he thought of as grandfather?

The pink haired girl was yanked out of her thoughts by the sound of the Hokage clearing his throat, "Genin Haruno we're in the process of a highly important mission debriefing, please try to stay on task."

Sakura ducked her head and was about to apologize when Naruto spoke up, "Lay off her. She's probably just surprised by the private debriefing you rarely do that anymore, you're like the freakin invisible Kage." Sakura swung here head towards Naruto with a look of shock on her face, and was just in time to see Shikamaru sharply elbow his friend in the side. All three genin missed the prominent frown that briefly covered the Sandiame's face.

Sarutobi cleared his throat to regain the attention of team psych and said, "Enough. You are here to be briefed on a very important mission. So, calm down and let me give you your orders."

Naruto had the decency to look sheepish, as his two friends ashamedly apologized. Content the the genin were finally ready to be serious the Hokage continued, "As you probably know the chunin exams are going to be starting next week, and we are fortunate that this year the exams are to be held in Konoha. This will bring a lot of good business to our village and increase our prosperity. However, Konoha in vulnerable during the exams and I fear that this year there may be someone trying to take advantage of that fact."

The Sandiame pulled out a picture of a boy who had red hair and a tattoo that said 'love' on his forehead, and held it up so that the three genin could study the picture carefully before placing it down and continuing, "This is Sabaku no Gaara a Suna nin and jinchuuriki of the one tail. His being here does not bode well for Suna's intentions. Normally a country will keep their jinchuuriki within their walls until their string enough to be sent on high level missions that require sending a message. The fact that Suna sent their only jinchuuriki to _our _chunin exam means they most likely intend to do a strong political move. Whether that move is trouncing all our genin in horrible ways to gain more business for themselves, or something more sinister. We don't know. Which brings me to your mission; you are to enter the chunin exams as the genin that you are and you are to find out everything you can about Sabaku no Gaara's abilities and what he's doing here. You will report any knowledge to your sensei as soon as you can after gaining it, and any questions you have can be answered by your sensei. Shikamaru, Sakura you two are dismissed."

The two genin saluted and left the room with the Nara shooting a concerned look at Naruto on his way out. As soon as the two genin had left Sarutobi turned his attention to Naruto, "Naruto I understand that your upset with me and I've allowed you to get away with a lot because of that. Even yelling at me in private.", the Third's face hardened into a stern glare, "However, I will not allow you to disrespect me in public. I am your Kage and no matter how you may feel about me personally; you will give me the respect I deserve as your leader. Is that understood?"

Naruto stance had steadily stiffened during the Hokage's lecture, and by the end he was very tempted to shout in anger but with all the control Inoichi-sensei had beat into his head he bit back his anger and left his face a careful blank as he said in a mostly controlled voice, "Hai, Hokage-sama." If Naruto's voice shook a bit out of anger the Third chose to ignore it as he sighed and dismissed his grandchild in all but blood.

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Iruka felt lighthearted as he watched Shikamaru and Sakura walk out of Hokage-sama's office without Naruto hopefully that meant that Naruto and Hokage-sama were patching things up. It would be good news for all the office ninja if they were. The Sandaime had been painfully slow the last few days and they were really starting to fall behind. Iruka only kept half a mind on his work as he waited to see what would come of the meeting going on in the Hokage's office, and he felt his heart drop as he saw Naruto storm out of the office with a hateful glower only barely kept off his face. Obviously the meeting hadn't gone well. Iruka heard a chunin behind him groan and mutter, "Great. It's not like we're breaking any speed records now, but this is gonna cause Hokage-sama to slow down even more."

Iruka turned to Izumo who was working next to him, "Hey Izumo would you mind covering for me for a bit? I'm gonna go talk to Naruto and see if I can help in some way."

Izumo glanced at Iruka with a smirk and nodded, "If you can resolve this mess I'll personally buy you dinner."

Iruka laughed as he put on his flak jacket, "I'm gonna hold you to that.", then he ran out the door. "Hey Naruto!", Iruka called as soon as he was close enough, and ran to catch up to the genin who had stopped to wait for him.

Naruto smiled a half sincere smile, "Hey Iruka-sensei. Whats up?"

Iruka stopped nest to Naruto with a sheepish look on his face, "Well it's been a while since I've had a chance to talk to you, and I was hoping you'd be willing to catch up over a bowl of Ichiraku ramen. My treat."

Naruto's half smile turned into a full one, "Seriously?", at Iruka's nod the genin gave a whoop of joy and took off running for Ichiraku's with an amused Iruka right behind him.

Ten minutes later found the duo at Ichiraku's with the genin happily guzzling down his first bowl of ramen while the entertained chunin watched while slowly eating his own bowl. "So Naruto," , Iruka said, "what have you been up to since you got off of your medical leave?"

The blond gulped down a mouthful of ramen and turned to his former sensei with a grin, "Oh the last month has been great!", Naruto paused, "Well up until last week anyway. B-but right after my team got of medical leave we got sent on our first ever mostly unsupervised mission outside the village and we did so well that we got a commendation from the Hokage." At the mention of the Hokage Naruto's energy drained away and his eyes darkened.

Iruka seeing Naruto's distraction tried to get him talking again, "A commendation wow. What was your mission about?"

The blond shook off his gloominess, "The mission itself is classified so... well you know.", Iruka gave a nod of understanding, and Naruto brightened even more as he said, "But hey guess what? My team has been nominated for the chunin exam!"

"Really?", a surprised Iruka asked.

Naruto bounced in his seat, "Yeah it's gonna be great! Team Psych is gonna blow everyone else out of the water. Except maybe mist since they're all about water, but then maybe that makes that cliché even more relevant?"

Iruka shook his head, "I think you're getting distracted Naruto, and I also think you're getting cocky. You show be cautious the chunin exams aren't easy."

The genin frowned, "I know that. But I'm not being cocky. I'm being confidant."

The chunin laughed, "I'm not sure there's that much of a difference between those two terms."

Naruto's jaw dropped in shock, "Are you kidding? There's totally a difference! The cocky are people that strut around like they're important and talk big because they are weak and everyone knows it, even they know it. They talk big in hopes that no one will see how pathetic they are, but the only ones fooled are the poor fools who are even weaker then them. Now confidant, on the other hand, is for those who are truly strong. They don't draw attention to themselves and they don't act all that important. But when their confronted they give of an amused air of a lion allowing a cub to impose on them, because otherwise the cub would be crushed. The biggest difference between confident and cocky though is this, the cocky draw the smart humble people to them like flies. The confident scare all but the cocky away. That's why I _want _to be confident."

Iruka looked thoughtful, "That's a good philosophy. Where did you learn it?"

Naruto shrugged, "From Ibiki-sensei. I can't say much for him as a human being, but he sure is a good teacher."

The chunin grinned, "I don't think anyone really has many positive things to say about Ibiki's humanity.", Iruka got a pensive look on his face, "Naruto, do mind if I ask you a question that I think you'll find unpleasant?"

The blond bit his lip in concern, "I guess so. But I don't promise to answer it."

The academy sensei gave a half-hearted smile, "That's fair. My question is; what's going on between you and the Third?"

Naruto's face blanked, "Why do you want to know about that?"

Iruka looked uneasy, "Well I can see how much it's bothering both you and Hokage-sama. You always become less cheerful if there's even a mention of the Hokage, and Sandaime-sama has really slowed down on paperwork since your falling out." The chunin nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "We paperwork ninja are beginning to worry that we'll never catch up."

Naruto set his chopsticks down with a frown and refused to meet his former sensei's eyes, "The Third broke my trust again."

The chunin looked surprised, "How?"

The blond shrugged and looked out toward the street a distant unhappy look still gracing his face, "I found out about a secret, a big one about me. Like fuzz ball big but in a different way."

"What secret?", Iruka asked.

Naruto looked reproachfully at his former sensei, "I can't tell you that. Its highly classified.", The chunin had the grace to look embarrassed as he gestured for Naruto to continue, "When I found out about it I was shocked, I thought the person who told me was lying, because I was sure the Third would tell me something as important as this secret is to me personally. But, the Hokage didn't tell me." Naruto's face darkened into a look of anger, "He knew the answer to the question I've wanted answered since I was old enough to ask and he kept it from me! I had to hear the answer from someone else!"

Iruka looked worried, "Who told you the answer then?"

Naruto smiled a small smile, "A council member named Danzo."

The chunin frowned and tried to remember where he'd heard that name as he said, "People aren't always what they seem Naruto. If this Danzo told you a classified secret that led to your relationship with Hokage-sama being strained, he's probably not a good person to trust."

Naruto looked startled, "Oh no you've got it all wrong! Danzo's been watching out for me and he even tried to defend the Sandiame's decision not to tell me. Besides I didn't trust him when he told me. Actually I'm still not sure I trust him.", Naruto gave a sad little laugh, "I'm not sure who to trust anymore."

Iruka was shocked, "What do you mean? You've always had good instincts on who's trustworthy or not. What's causing you to doubt your ability to judge people now?"

Naruto stared at his former sensei with a lost look, "I- keep being wrong. I was starting to trust Inoichi-sensei, and he made me think I had killed my only friend to teach me a simple lesson. Granted I learned the lesson, but that experience almost killed me.", Naruto shot the chunin a beseeching look, "You know how important my few friends are to me.", Iruka nodded and the blond continued, "Then I was _really_ starting to trust Ibiki-sensei and he let his underlings torture my teammates and me to teach all the other genin a lesson. Then there's Hokage-sama, I trusted him with my life. I would have lived for him died for him, whatever. But, he betrayed me most of all. He kept two life altering secrets from me, and played me like a puppet. How _can _I know who to trust when even those I trusted most are betraying me?"

Iruka listened to Naruto's speech with ever growing sadness, he swore he was going to gat Ibiki and Inoichi for the pain they'd caused. He'd get Hokage-sama too but he couldn't quiet bring himself to believe that the Third would ever intentionally hurt Naruto. For now though he just took Naruto into his arms and tried his best to comfort him.

The blond stayed in his father figures arms for a few moments and soaked up the comfort that was freely given to him before he pulled back with a grin that was only slightly false, and called for Teuchi to bring him another bowl of ramen, and then started chattering about the chunin exams.

The chunin watched Naruto start to recover with an amazed smile. Naruto may only be slightly sincere right now but he would recover. His indomitable spirit wouldn't allow for anything less.

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Sasuke scowled as he walked by Ichiraku's and saw Naruto inside regaling Iruka-sensei with all the things he was hoping would happen in the chunin exams. The Uchiha didn't get it. Naruto was a pathetic weakling who didn't have a clue about what it took to be a ninja, and yet he had been allowed the opportunity to try for promotion in the chunin exams. Sasuke had been the best in his class in the academy, and he had worked hard since graduating to grow even stronger. He deservedto be a chunin! There had to be a way for him to get promoted without entering the exams. After all there were far too many chunin in the village for them all to have been promoted through the exams. He just needed to figure out a way to prove his superiority over his age mates outside of the exam.

Sasuke walked on autopilot towards his favorite training ground as his mind mulled over a way to prove his worth to the Hokage. He was half-heartedly throwing kunai at a target when inspiration struck.

He knew that the chunin exams had three rounds, everyone knew that, and the final round was a tournament to show off the skills of the chunin. If he could beat all the genin who made it to the final, it would prove his strength and worthiness for the title of chunin. Sasuke quickly gathered up his kunai and stowed them in his weapons pouch before he ran off to take a look at his library. The chunin exams usually took a little over a month to complete, that meant he had that much time to make himself stronger and pummel all the final round contestants. He knew that if he wanted to beat everyone he needed to be stronger, but that was ok. Strength was always worth the cost.

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Iruka walked back to the Hokage tower with a heavy heart, and thoughts swirling through his head like a maelstrom. Life as a shinobi was ruining Naruto, and that was saying something. Ever since the first day Iruka had seen Naruto in his class the boy had come across as jaded. But now he wasn't just unenthusiastic, he was unsure of himself and everyone around him. Then there was Hokage-sama, he was breaking; all the duties of Hokage were finally becoming too much for him, and this falling out with Naruto only shorted the time Sandaime-sama could competently be Hokage. Finally he couldn't stop thinking about Danzo and how Naruto had spoken of him. He couldn't remember where, but he knew he'd heard that name before, and he didn't think it was in a good way.

When the chunin got back to the Hokage tower he decided to forgo work for the moment to try and find a way to resolve the tension between Naruto and the Third. So the first place Iruka went was archives; since Danzo seemed to be in the middle of this mess he needed to find out just who Danzo was. It took him little tome to find Danzo's file but after reading it he paled, and dropped the file, running towards Hokage-sama's private office. He knew where he had heard that name and he needed to tell the Third about Danzo's involvement with Naruto. It pained Iruka to think that he was betraying Naruto's confidence, but this was for his own good.

Scant minutes later the chunin was telling a pale Hokage what he had learned. "Have Izumo bring Naruto here Iruka. I must warn him."

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As Naruto walked home he thought about his enjoyable lunch with Iruka. It felt good to tell all his confusing thoughts to someone older and wiser, who, even if he couldn't help, gave him a way to talk through his troubles, and he knew Iruka would keep his confidence.

The blond was unlocking the door when a chunin who commonly worked at the Hokage tower appeared in a puff of smoke, "Uzumaki-san, Hokage-sama has requested your presence immediately."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What again? I couldn't have left more than an hour ago. What could he possibly need me for now that he couldn't tell me then?"

Then chunin shrugged, "I'm just the messenger, but you'd better hurry. It seemed kinda urgent. Naruto gave a sigh as he relocked his door and took off towards the place he'd just left.

Five minutes later Naruto was being ushered into the Hokage's private office where he saw a stone faced Third and a mildly guilty looking Iruka. The blond felt his stomach drop. If Iruka was here... but surely he wouldn't have betrayed his confidence to the Sandiame about their conversation when he'd so clearly stated how much he was confused about who he could trust. The Thirds next words shattered Naruto's disbelief, "Iruka tells me you've taken to listening to Danzo. I must warn you Naruto. Danzo is a very dangerous man. Who-".

Naruto snorted, "You would say that wouldn't you? After all if Danzo's the enemy then I'll be more likely to patch things up with you."

Hiruzen sighed, "This isn't a lie to try and repair our relationship. Have some respect for my intelligence please. If it was a lie that got us into this mess do you really think I'd be stupid enough to use a lie to get out of it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Well..."

Sarutobi shook his head, "Never mind. The point is Danzo is a very good manipulator and he wants to be Hokage no matter what it costs."

Naruto gave the Third a disbelieving look, "If he's so dangerous why haven't you taken care of him?"

"Because he has a lot of political support, and if I tried to take him down it could very well lead to civil war.", The Hokage said, "Besides, even with all my resources I still haven't been able to discover all that Danzo is hiding, and I don't want to confront him until I know his contingency plans."

Naruto stared blankly at the ground while he thought, then he looked at the Sandaime with a very closed off expression, "Danzo has done nothing to earn my distrust, or even my suspicion. While you have done a great deal to gain it.", the Third flinched, and Naruto glanced over at Iruka, "Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if I can trust anyone my gut tells me to. As it seems my gut is as confused as I am. I'm not telling you this to bear my soul or anything, so don't get your hopes up. I'm telling you this because it was my gut that told me to trust you, both of you, and I don't trust my gut anymore. So guess where that leaves you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an exam to prepare for." With that Naruto vanished before either party could defend themselves. But both parties would be relieved to know that despite his mistrust of them. They had managed to plant a sliver of doubt in Naruto's mind.

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The next day Sakura ran to the meeting place of her teammates. She was late and she didn't want to cause her team to miss entering the chunin exam. "Sorry I'm late.", She huffed as she came to a stop by her teammates, "I had to give Hokage-sama a report from Anko-sensei and I couldn't get in. In the end I just left it with Iruka-sensei, I hope Anko-sensei won't be too mad.", Sakura shuddered.

Shikamaru gave Sakura a confused look, "Why couldn't you get into see Hokage-sama? Our sensei's all have top priority."

"I know.", Sakura groaned, "But Hokage-sama was apparently in a very important meeting, but I have my doubts."

"Why?", Naruto asked.

Sakura shrugged, "Well for starters the silencing seals weren't activated, and Hokage-sama was yelling like I've never heard him yell."

"Wonder why.", Shikamaru said dully.

Naruto snorted, "Someone probably disagreed with him and he couldn't handle it."

Sakura and Shikamaru shared a concerned look over their friends comment before Sakura cleared her throat and uncomfortably said, "Anyway, what's our plan for the Chunin exams?"

Shikamaru blinked when both his teammates automatically turned their gazes to him, "Do I always have to be the one who comes up with our characterizations?"

"No.", Naruto said, "You only need to come up with our personalities when we do an undercover assignment as a team."

Shikamaru sighed, "Great. Well then I suggest that we go in as inept and cocky genin. Naruto you be loud and oblivious t the point of stupidity with minimal skill. Sakura you be loud and abusive, with only book smarts to help you, and I will be lazy to the point where I'm almost constantly falling asleep."

Naruto and Sakura sweat dropped, "So...", Sakura said, "You basically want us to act like we did before Ibiki-sensei got his claws in us?"

Shikamaru nodded, "Pretty much. But do show a bit of improvement for the sake of our old classmates. They know we've been broken so we need to show a bit of darkness, but the fact that we survived being broken could have believably made us cocky so we're gonna let them think it has. So, a little darkness and a small increase of skill, but basically the same as we were in the academy. Also Naruto I think you should henge some of your clones into flies so that we can ID the most suspicious genin quickly and start looking into them."

The Nara's two teammates nodded, and Naruto sent his transformed clones ahead of them to the academy. They would wait until right before the cutoff to ensure that others teams didn't have very long to study them, but that didn't mean they shouldn't study those who were stupid enough to show up way early.

After an hour of practicing their covers the three genin headed off for the academy building and the start of the chunin exams.


	22. Chapter 22

A/N To all my positive reviewers out there, thank you. You keep me writing. To all my negative reviewers out there. You kill my muse and slow me down. If you have a question, feel free to ask. If you notice a problem with my WRITING feel free to point it out to me and give me suggestions on how to fix it. In fact please do, I'm on this site to have fun but also to improve my writing, so if you notice something I would be grateful to you for pointing it out.

Now if you have a problem with my STORY don't write a negative review. I've had the end of this story planned from the beginning and everything I write moves my story towards that end. So know that complaining about what happens in my story won't do anything except tick me off, kill my muse and slow me down.

I know what is happening in my story right now may be upsetting, but it has its purpose. The drama will end soon, so if your not happy with this arc so far, I suggest stop reading for a few chapters and then read through all that drama in one sitting. I'm sure both you and I will be happier if you do.

Once more to my positive reviewers. Thank you, you have no idea how much of an impact you have.

Now one more quick thing. I will be away from my computer for the next month, and while I'll try to keep writing in a notebook, I don't know how successful I'll be. So, sorry but don't expect an update until mid-April. Wow this is the second long A/N in a row. Sorry about that guys. Please enjoy chapter 22.

Chapter 22- Swing a stick hit a bad guy

Naruto sighed as he set down his pencil and looked around at the other chunin hopefuls. According to plan he and his team had made it into the exam room with barely enough time to not be late and none to give anything away to other teams. He had to admit though, he was a bit disappointed with the first exam, and with his fellow hopefuls. A written test just wasn't all that scary, especially when it obviously wasn't really a written test. Yet everywhere he looked there were scared genin.

Not everyone was scared though. Sakura had casually answered all the questions and was now trying to subtly mess with the genin next to her. Shikamaru also found the questions to be barely worth consideration and was now taking a nice nap. Naruto found that by simply popping one of his shadow flies he got all the answers, not to mention the knowledge he got about the competition. He made sure to take particular notice of the genin who _weren't _sweating and then joined his teammate in taking a nap.

He was woken rather rudely by the sound of Sakura screaming 'Hide me!', and looked Behind him to see Sakura clinging to an unknown Ame genin. Confused at what could have caused that response, he looked around. He got his answer when he saw Anko-sensei standing at the front of the room in front of a big sign that announced her to be the leader of the next test. Naruto dropped his head to the desk with a groaned 'kill me now'. Then he stiffened as he felt a presence that was far too close for comfort. The blond hesitantly raised his head to find Anko-sensei laying on his desk with a sinister smirk on her face, "Is that a request Naruto-kun?", the special jonin pulled out a kunai and started licking it, "I can fill it right now if it is."

The blond pushed his back against his chair in an effort to get as much distance as he could between himself and the crazy female in front of him. Absently he noticed that the other genin on his row were trying to subtly make their way to the back of the room. Idiots. With a confident grin Naruto answered Anko-sensei's question, "A request? No way. Who would you torture if you didn't have me?" The blond could feel the other genin giving him incredulous looks and smiled, no pesky weaklings to fight off later, score.

Anko gave a small laugh as she slipped off his desk, "I can think of a few people." Then the special jonin headed back to the front of the room with a serious look on her face, "Listen up!", as if every eye in the room weren't already on her, "You may have passed the first test but that doesn't mean anything. This test is just to weed out the morons." She turned to the other jonin in the room, "No offense Asuma."

Asuma shrugged, "Hey I don't care if you insult this test, Ibiki's the one who came up with it."

Anko paled a bit then spun back to the students, "You're next test will start tomorrow at 0700 sharp and you'll meet outside of training ground 44. If you're late you fail. Now get out of here!" All the students made a mad dash for the exit to try and get away from the crazy jonin. Naruto was one of the last genin out of the room so he was one of the few who overheard Anko as the door shut , "Alright Asuma here's the deal. You tell Ibiki anything I said here today and I'll-"

Naruto was laughing as he met up with his teammates. It never ceased to amaze him that Anko-sensei, the scariest person alive, was scared of Ibiki-sensei.

To celebrate passing their first test, even if it was ridiculously easy, the three genin went out to eat. Then went their separate ways with firm promises to meet at training ground 44 at 0630. With, as Shikamaru suggested, full pack. Anko-sensei was a nutter and they were meeting outside a training ground so it would be best to be prepared.

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Naruto gave a satisfied sigh as he finished packing for the test tomorrow. He didn't care what Anko-sensei had planned there was no way she would catch him by surprise, and thanks to Shika's ever increasing skill with sealing none of his team would need to carry around pesky packs. He smiled as he put the small sealing scroll in a safe place and went to fix his dinner of cup ramen and salad, 'cause Sakura would kill him if he didn't eat something 'healthy'.

He had just blown through his salad and was about to start in on the joy that was ramen when there was a knock on his front door. Naruto went to answer his door with a scowl on his face and muttering insults at the unknown interrupter as he went. But his face brightened when the door opened to show him Danzo, "Hey Band-aid! What are you doing here?"

Danzo gave the blond a small smile as he gently chided, "It's generally considered polite to invite your guests in before you start interrogating them."

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, "Eh-he-he, sorry Band-aid. Do you wanna come in an' have a seat?"

The council member gave Naruto a pleased smile and moved to sit down on the genin's rather unkempt couch, "Now as for why I'm here. I came to congratulate you on passing the first test."

The blond looked confused, "How did you know I passed?"

Danzo waved one of his hands negligently, "I have former students who are kind enough to keep me apprised of current events."

Naruto felt a small warning bell go off, there was a fine line between a students loyalty to their sensei and their loyalty to the Hokage. Naruto may not like the Hokage, at _all_, but even he would be very careful about what information he'd share with his sensei without Hokage-sama's permission, and depending on what Band-aid's students were telling him they could be crossing that line. "Huh." Naruto said brightly, "That must be handy. Do they tell you anything cool?"

The councilman laughed, "I suppose that depends on your definition of cool. But they mostly tell me about moral among the civilian population, and occasionally among the shinobi. They also help me keep and eye on the up and coming genin. But tell me Naruto, what did you think of the first test?"

The blond made sure to tuck away all the information Band-aid had just told him, while none of that information seemed traitorous to share he wanted to make sure, then with an exaggerated disgusted face Naruto said, "The first test was ridiculous. It was simple, and really boring. But the really sad thing is a lot of the genin got scared while taking it. Apparently Ibiki-sensei created the test they used, but he must have made it to affect only the most weak-minded because that test was _easy_, and it doesn't say a lot for the other genin that most of them were nervous."

Danzo hmmed and tilted his head from side to side, "Perhaps not, but keep in mind Naruto that you have been trained to handle a great deal more mental pressure than most genin are taught. Interrogation is your teams strong point, but your sensei has done a very good job of keeping your teams skills balanced. Not all sensei are that wise. In fact most sensei will overtrain their students in one area, often to the exclusion of other important skills. It would not surprise me if most of those genin who had no defense against mind games, had a fairly strong grasp of combat techniques."

Naruto looked thoughtful, "Thats... a really good point. Thanks for reminding me of it Band-aid. Do you have any other advice for me?"

"More of a warning than advice, but watch out for Uchiha Sasuke.", Danzo said, "The student who told me of you passing noticed the Uchiha attempting to spy on the first exam. I don't know how successful he was. But from what I know of Sasuke he would not spy on the exams unless he thought he could achieve something from doing so. What he hopes to achieve I do not know, but I do know it's probably not a good thing, especially for you chunin hopefuls."

Naruto looked surprised, "The Teme's spying?", the blond frowned, "Thanks for the warning, I'll be sure to be careful."

The councilman smiled, "It was no trouble.", Danzo thoughtfully looked out at the nighttime view from the blonds window, "You know Naruto you are very skilled for a genin, and I would not at all mind taking you on as one of my students.

The blond shot Danzo a confused and slightly wary look, that warning bell from before just got louder, "I have a sensei. A good one too. I wouldn't betray him."

The councilman's eyes widened in surprise, "Oh no Naruto! You miss understood me. I meant that it is common knowledge that sensei of genin teams stop training their students once they become chunin. After that it's the new chunin's responsibility to find a sensei in their field of interest and grow stronger. In fact, aside from bonds of camaraderie that may have formed between a jonin-sensei and his genin there really isn't any reason for the relationship to continue once the genin are promoted. I was just offering to be your next sensei, as I believe you would very much enjoy what I could teach you, and I would be honored to have a student as talented as you."

Naruto visibly relaxed, "Oh, oops. Sorry for the suspicion Band-aid, and thanks for the offer, I'll definitely be thinking about it. But, if it's ok, I think I'll hold off in thinking about it too hard until I know whether or not I'll actually be making it to chunin this time around."

Danzo gave the blond an understanding smile, "Fair enough. But when you do make it to chunin, and I have no doubt that you'll succeed during this exam, I hope you will give my offer serious weight.", the councilman looked at his watch and stood, "Now I fear I must leave. There's an important meeting on the other side of town that I cannot miss. Good luck on the next part of the exam, although I'm sure you're skilled enough not to need it."

Naruto grinned, "Thanks Band-aid! I'll see you later!". Then Danzo was gone, and with a startled look at the clock the blond was off to bed. After all who knew what tomorrow would bring. He might as well be well rested.

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Shikamaru sighed as he waited for the gate that would let him and his team into the forest of death to open. Anko-sensei's instructions had been straightforward and easy, but that didn't make the task his team had to pull off any less troublesome. Then there was the matter of team psych's mission which took precedence over the test, but at the same time they would be better able to complete their mission if they stayed in the test longer. So now his team had the irritating task of completing this test while finding out as much information as possible on why Suna had seen fit to send their jinchuuriki to a foreign chunin exam.

The Nara had heard that Suna was having trouble getting missions, both from their own Damyo and other wealthy patrons, and having their jinchuuriki obliterate all the other genin in the chunin exam would certainly help with that problem. But at the same time, most of the missions Suna was loosing were coming straight to Konoha, and it was possible Suna was sending in their weapon of mass destruction for revenge. They needed to find out which reason was more likely.

Naruto had also pointed out that that Kabuto fellow was suspicious so they needed to check him out. His team had three different objectives they needed to reach while inside the forest of death, and Shikamaru really didn't like the simple answer to achieving them. the Nara was yanked out of his thoughts by that sound of the starting horn and the gate in front of them swinging open.

He and his teammates hurried to get under the cover of trees, but once there Shikamaru called a halt. They needed to plan.

"What's up Shikamaru?", Naruto asked.

Shikamaru looked between his two teammates, "We have three objectives we need to complete while in this forest and the simplest way to achieve those objectives would be for us to split up."

Sakura looked confused, "Wait a minute, three? I only count two objectives."

"There's three.", the Nara said, "One, we need to find out why Suna's jinchuuriki is-"

"Could we call him Gaara?", Naruto quietly interceded.

Shikamaru blinked in surprise and then gave his friend an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dehumanize jinchuuriki, just him. He's the enemy after all.", Naruto gave a small nod and the Nara continued, "Anyway, objective one, we need to find out why Gaara is here. Two, we need to complete this test, and three, we need to find out if Kabuto is a threat."

"Ah.", Sakura said, "I forgot about Kabuto. So we split up? I know we're not exactly weak for genin but it seems reckless to go into any of these situations without backup. Well, except for getting the scroll, that objective should be fairly simple as long as we pick a weak enough team. But the other two? I mean one of us would be spying on a jinchuuriki!", Sakura turned to Naruto, "And I know you don't like that term Naruto, but the fact still remains that he _is _a demon container and that makes him very dangerous."

Shikamaru nodded, "I know. That's why Naruto will be the one to watch Gaara and _all three _of us will have Naruto clones ready to send messages."

The blond looked confused, "Why do I need to have a clone out? It's a simple matter for me to create one."

The Nara looked out at the trees surrounding them, "I know, but making clones takes time and if you have a problem you may not get that time. So keep a clone active."

Naruto gave a nod and Sakura pipped in, "So, now we know what Naruto will be doing, but how are we splitting the remaining objectives."

"I think it would be best if you went for the scroll while I kept an eye on Kabuto.", Shikamaru said.

The girl scoffed, "Oh of course _I _get the mundane job. Why can't you take the normal genin task?"

"Because,", Shikamaru sighed, "I don't have anyway of taking out genin from a distance without killing them. You do, unless you suddenly decided to stop carrying your arsenal of poisons?"

Sakura curled in on herself, "Well, no I still have them. But still. Why do I have to be the one doing what everyone else in this forest is doing? I mean-" , the girl sighed, "I get why I'm the one doing it, but it still sucks that I get the boring job."

Naruto gave an overly cheerful smile, "Hey if it makes you feel any better Sakura, I'm gonna be guarding our scroll, and Shika's going to be going after someone we know nothing about. For all we know he could be following around a mostly incompetent genin who's just doing the test."

The girl bobbed her head from side to side, "True, not very likely, but true. Well now that I've been given my chance to whine, I guess we should start on our objectives. I'll tell you when I'm done."

Naruto nodded, created clones, and prepared to head off to complete his own mission but just before he entered the trees he turned back to Sakura, "Oh I almost forgot. There was a team of Kusa genin that seemed pretty weak, but they did a good job of covering it so other teams might be leaving them alone. I don't know if they have the right scroll but it's a start."

The girl gave a smile of appreciation then all three genin disappeared to do their duties with Naruto clones trailing behind them.

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It took almost all day for Sakura to find the Kusa team, and another day of carefully tailing them to find out which scroll they had, and which genin was carrying it. This team did have the scroll they'd need and they were oblivious enough that she should be able knock them out from a distance and take their scroll without revealing anything.

Someday Sakura swore she would find out what made Naruto so lucky. This team might as well have been handed to her on a silver platter, and she just knew that it was her teammates luck and hand picking this team that made it so easy. If she had to guess she'd say he used up all his bad luck on the day he was born when he had the Kyuubi sealed into him so now there's nothing but good left.

The smell of wood smoke brought Sakura out of her semi- jealous/pitying thoughts, and she looked down to see her marks setting up camp. At least this team was smart enough to only use a fire while it was light out. But still the smell was strong enough that it might attract attention so it looked like it was just about time to act.

The pink haired girl waited until all three marks were around the fire eating dinner before she began to make her move. She carefully retracted three senbon that were tipped in a drug that should knock them out for at least an hour. Then she carefully lined up her shots. The pesky genin had been smart enough to all sit on different sides of the fire so they could watch each others backs. Either that or this team just really didn't like each other. But whatever the reason, Sakura wouldn't be able to make nice clean back shots without a lot of movement. That meant only one genin would be stabbed in the back. Sakura gave an ironic smile, so much for being a shinobi.

With a silent release of breath Sakura finished lining up her shots and made her first throw, followed quickly by two more. She listened with satisfaction to the triple thunk of perfectly hit targets and the quickly silenced cries of dismay. After waiting a minute to make sure the knock out drug properly did it's job, the girl quietly dropped down and went to the pack she'd seen the genin put the scroll in earlier, and gasped when she couldn't find the scroll. She quickly started riffling through one of the other pouches hoping to find it there.

Sakura herd the faint whistling of a kunai behind her and immediately dropped and rolled to the side to get away from it. As she came back to her feet she looked to see who had attacked her and was surprised to find one of the Kusa genin.

The genin gave a mocking laugh as he and Sakura slowly circled around one another, "Did you really think _poison _would be as effective on _Kusa _genin as it would be on others."

Sakura's circling step faltered at her startlement then she gave a sheepish grin, "Oops? I didn't even think of that." At the girls faltering the male lept forward and swiped his knife through her throat, only to stumble as his knife encountered no resistance where her throat should have been. His eyes widened as he felt a kunai far too close to his carotid artery, "I did, however, think of a backup plan." The male then felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, and the world darkened around him.

Sakura sighed as she put away her kunai and, much more carefully, went back to riffling through the genin team's things. She finally found the blasted scroll in the kunai pouch of the genin who had attacked her. As soon as she had the scroll she quickly moved a safe distance away from the team she'd incapacitated and came to rest on a tree branch before telling her Naruto clone to tell the others her mission was complete and what did they want her to do now?

It was scarcely five minutes later when he gave a reply, "My original thinks it would be too dangerous to join up with him, as Gaara is very jumpy and prone to killing... well, everything. Shikamaru also suggests you keep away. As far as he knows he's undetected, but he says he's feeling jumpy and he doesn't want to risk bring in anyone else. Apparently somethings not right about Kabuto, and he feel's like he might have to cut and run at any time."

Sakura sighed and let her head gently thunk onto the trunk behind her, "Did either of them tell me what they want me to do? Right now I'm stuck with hunting down more teams, which could be dangerous, or holing up somewhere."

The Naruto clone created another copy before dispersing it, less than a minute later his eyes grew distant as he got his reply, "Neither of my counterparts felt it safe to intrude on our leaders missions, however the other clones do suggest creating a defensible safe house for all of us to meet at before heading to the tower."

The girl growled, "This is ridiculous! Both of my teammates are in danger and the only thing I can do to help them is guard a scroll!" The blond clone gave a helpless shrug and Sakura sullenly looked out over the forest, "Well then, I guess we'll go make the safe house. Let's go."

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It took a surprisingly short amount of time for Shikamaru to find Kabuto, and even less to find a good place to watch the silver haired genin's team from. Following this team proved to be rather uneventful, but in spite of the seeming ordinariness of this team, the Nara's gut was telling him something was wrong, and the longer he followed the worse his unease grew, in spite of the fact that there didn't seem to be anything wrong. It was making him edgy.

The second night in the forest Shikamaru got the message that Sakura had completed her mission and he was glad, it was one less thing to worry about, but when his Naruto clone asked if he wanted her to join him he had to restrain himself from shouting "No!". There was something wrong, he was too jumpy and if his instincts were right he might have to cut and run at any time, he told the clone that and suggested that Sakura build a sort of safe house, if his mission ended up going as sour as he thought it would he might need it.

The third day the team finally broke from the norm as Kabuto went one way and sent his teammates in the opposite direction. Shikamaru had only been following the silver-haired genin for an hour when his jumpy instincts went from 'High Alert' to 'RUN RIGHT NOW!', he didn't hesitate in following them. After hurried instructions to the Naruto clone to split in two and have one follow Kabuto in the most discreet way he could, while the other led him to Sakura's safe house he took off with one of the other Naruto clones right behind him.

After running full pelt for at least ten minutes, he finally slowed down and focused of getting to Sakura while using full evasive maneuvers. He breathed a relieved sigh when he finally reached the cave that was well hidden by tree roots that his pink-haired teammate had chosen. His Naruto clone had to lead him through a carefully constructed maze of traps, and when he reached cover he collapsed with a smile while a very worried Sakura hovered around. It just wasn't fair. Such a simple mission shouldn't leave him feeling like he'd just gone through a week long conditioning session with Sensei. It was to that rather sullen thought that Shikamaru drifted off to sleep.

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Shikamaru's second Naruto clone broke away from the small group as soon as he was created and swiftly turned into an indigenous bird of prey that was small, quick, and blended well with the shadows.

As soon as his disguise was in place he took off after Kabuto. His flight ended rather abruptly as no more than ten minutes after he started flying the silver haired genin came to a stop. The Naruto clone just managed to catch a glimpse of the person Kabuto was meeting when that person looked up and seconds later he felt the sharp sting of a senbon piercing his right eye. He gave a piercing avian cry of agony, and his last thought as he disappeared was the memory of yellow serpentine eyes.

Naruto stiffened slightly as he felt the dispersal of one of his clones and the rush of foreign memories that accompanied the feeling. After checking to make sure Gaara's team was still resting Naruto let his eyes glaze over as he went back over the memories he'd gotten from his clone. It wasn't long before the blond paled at what he found and a profound sense of relief filled him that Shikamaru had broken off his mission when he had. He really didn't want to end this mission with the funeral of a teammate, and if Shikamaru had stayed any longer Naruto would have laid even odds that he would have been attending his teammates.

He was broken from his study of his clones memories by a cry of pain coming from the clearing. Turning his attention back to the clearing he saw the female Suna nin pulling a bloody kunai from her arm. Naruto's looked around to see what poor genin team was gonna get it next only to widen his eyes in surprise when he saw an ANBU jump out of a tree that was a bit too close to his for comfort and immediately try a downward vertical slash on Gaara. The blond was impressed to note that even this attack had no effect against the redhead's defense. While Gaara was distracted by one ANBU another came out of the trees behind the group and quickly captured the genin Naruto had learned were named Temari and Kankouro.

The ANBU that attacked Gaara lept back as soon as his teammates had acquired his prisoners and spoke, "Surrender yourself as a prisoner or your two siblings will be killed.", Naruto quirked a brow in surprise, siblings?, that was something the Third had failed to mention. The blond watched Gaara carefully to see what he would do about the threat on his family.

"What will you do to me if I surrender?", Gaara asked.

The ANBU holding the prisoners spoke, "We'll kill you. As a jinchuuriki your too dangerous to allow to live. Even if you do only hold the one-tail."

Gaara closed his eyes and his brows drew together, "I thought as much.", then he opened his eyes and Naruto barely contained his gasp of surprise. He _knew _those eyes, and they terrified him. He felt a cold shiver go down his spine as Gaara continued, "Kill them then. They do not hold enough value to end my existence."

Neither ANBU expressed any emotion at this declaration, but the one in front did speak, "Interesting. You truly do not care in the least for them. Then there lives are meaningless."

The ANBU gave his partner a nod and the other raised his knife to end the two genin when Temari spoke, "W-wait Gaara. We all need to be alive to pass this test."

Gaara looked up with a dispassionate look, "I know." Then sand exploded from the ground around the two ANBU quickly encasing all but their heads in sand, "You should not have tried to end my existence." With that the sand started to compress and the ANBU started to scream in agony, Gaara smiled. One of the ANBU opened his mouth as if to beg, but by then the sand was too tight for him to speak his seemed to fall out of his mouth of its own accord a the black symbols on it ingrained themselves into Naruto's mind along with the rest of this horrifying scene.

Then after what seemed like hours their heads were also encased in sand and Gaara blandly said, "Desert funeral." As soon as those words were uttered the sand quickly compressed then exploded spraying bloodied sand in every direction, then all the sand pulled back into the gourd on Gaara's back.

"I can't believe these pathetic peace lovers would actually send ANBU out to assassinate you during a temporary neutrality.", The boy Kankouro said then looked at, well his sister, "Still feel bad about breaking the truce sis?"

A shaken Temari shook her head, "Not really Konoha's shown us that they don't mean to keep this treaty any more than we do."

"The treaty no longer matters.", Gaara said, "They have proven their desire to end my existence In one month's time there won't be a soul on this earth that can stop me from razing this spineless village to the ground." That said Gaara turned back into the trees with his two teammates hurrying to catch up with him.

Naruto did not move. For several minutes all he could think about was how not to be ill. It didn't work and he found himself moving again only to find the nearest bush to be sick in. When he was done he wiped his mouth with a shaking hand, and tried very hard not think about all the things in that fight that he knew would require more thought. He really wasn't looking forward to that.

With a shaky breath he stood up, leaned against the nearest tree, and called to his clone, "Disperse yourself and tell the others to meet me at the tower. I have the knowledge we needed about Gaara, as well as some other useful facts. I'm calling my mission done."

The clone nodded but hesitated the disperse, "But boss, what about the ANBU?"

Naruto winced, "I don't want to think about that until I can be alone in a place where I can focus all my on it. Right now I just want to finish this test. I'll think of all the disturbing stuff I learned later."

The copy once again nodded and disappeared in a poof of smoke. Naruto stared at the spot where his clone had been until the smoke dissipated, and then closed his eyes to take a centering breath before taking of toward the tower.

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Shikamaru came back to the world of the awake with a headache and a worried Sakura hovering over him. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but it really couldn't have been long. He looked up when he herd Sakura speak, "Are you alright Shika? As soon as you came in you collapsed, but I've done a complete scan and I couldn't find anything wrong. Not even an abnormal amount of sleep deprivation what happ-"

Shikamaru cupped a hand over his teammates mouth to so he could get a word in, "I'm fine. My mission just threw me a curve ball I wasn't ready for." Since Sakura's mouth was still covered all she could give was a quizzical look, the Nara sighed, "I don't know why but today my instincts started screaming for me to run. So I did. It was weird I felt like a deer that was being hunted."

"You're weren't far off.", their Naruto clone said.

Shikamaru tilted his head to the side in confusion, "What?"

The clone grumbled, "Your feeling, it wasn't so far off. About ten minutes after you cut and ran, Kabuto caught up to whoever he was meeting. As soon as I was in senbon range, I got taken out, all I saw were reptilian yellow eyes and long black hair. Sound familiar?"

The Nara paled, "Orochimaru?", he asked breathlessly, "You think I was a ten minute walk from Orochimaru!" The poor genin looked like he very much wanted to be ill.

The clone shrugged, "Kind of explains the whole feeling like pray thing doesn't it?"

"But that's not possible.", Sakura broke in, "There's no way Orochimaru could've gotten this far into Konoha without being caught."

Shikamaru shook his head, "It's more improbable than impossible. Remember Orochimaru was Sandaime-sama's student. Even though Konoha changed the security protocols after he left, he was still trained by the person who was responsible for changing them. That would give him a better than average chance of getting around them."

"There's also the fact that he noticed me.", The Naruto said, "I've had _ANBU _be fooled by my transformation on a regular basis. It takes someone with skill to notice the slight chakra anomalies my first level transformations make. So either Kabuto was meeting with a genin bloodthirsty enough to want to take out a bird of prey and just got lucky hitting me or-", The clone cut himself of and stared into space for a moment before his hands started to shake and he turned a bit green. He was brought back to himself by Sakura calling his name in concern, "Or, um, Shikamaru... was lucky enough to get, away from a sannin."

The other two genin looked strangely at the clone, before Shikamaru smirked, "Gee Naruto, getting sick over the thought of me getting caught by Orochimaru, I didn't know you cared."

Sakura laughed, and Naruto gave a, weak, smile, and stared off into space again, "I'm getting a message from my original, he says he's finished his mission and want's you to meet him at the tower."

The two others nodded and quickly got everything they had together before taking of. Shikamaru, however, kept a close eye on his blond friends clone. He had the unpleasant feeling that the clones sudden illness had very little to do with his near miss with Orochimaru. Which meant it had to do with the original Naruto, and _that _concerned him. He just hoped it wasn't anything too serious.

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Naruto sighed as he sullenly looked out over the forest of death from his place on the center towers roof. It had been two days since he had met up with his teammates, and completed the second test. It had also been two days of the blond studiously avoiding his two teammates in favor of his very unpleasant thoughts, and after two days he had some resolutions. The conformation of an attack had been the easiest thing to shunt to the side as it would be told to the third when team psych gave their mission report.

Next was the look he'd seen on Gaara. He knew that look, much more than he'd ever wanted to, and seeing it in Gaara's eyes made him ache. Naruto gave a self deriding snort as he watched another beat up team enter the tower. The enemy that had the best chance of hurting Konoha and _that _is the enemy he can't help but sympathize with. Sometimes he wondered why his teammates trusted him. Because even knowing what he knew about Gaara, Naruto still wanted to talk to the boy. To try to... help him. Like he'd helped so many of his jonin friends when they were at their lowest, but he shouldn't be feeling this need to help with an enemy. It bordered on treason.

Then there were the ANBU, he had no idea what to think of that. Three months ago he would have gone to the third and Trusted him to at least help him understand. Now he wasn't so sure the Hokage wouldn't just spew a bunch of honeyed words to get out of looking bad. After a lot of thought he finally decided it would be best to ask Ibiki-sensei, in a round about way. So here he was, at least partially at peace with the nightmare he'd seen in the forest, and waiting fir his sensei so he could get more at peace with it. After spend more time than he cared to on thoughts he couldn't resolve, he carefully blanked his mind and watched for his sensei to come through the only entrance.

Naruto didn't know how long he'd been sitting and staring blankly when he finally saw the familiar bandana covered head of his sensei, seemingly arguing with Anko-sensei over something. The blond quickly got to his feet a ran done the wall calling out to his sensei.

Ibiki-sensei was still standing there when he reached the bottom, but so was Anko-sensei and both were giving him a confused look, "Yes?", Ibiki-sensei said.

The blond huffed, "Could I talk to you for a minute? It's important."

Ibiki glanced over at Anko with an eyebrow raised in a silent question. The crazy jonin shrugged, "We still have a couple hours before the test is officially over and not all the genin are in yet."

The sadist nodded then looked at Naruto, "You've got two hours."

The genin shifted a bit from foot to foot, "Can... can we go on the roof where it's more private?"

Now starting to grow concerned over his students odd behavior he nodded and quickly scaled the wall to the roof with his student right behind him. Once there he turned to the blond, "What's this all about Naruto?"

The genin put his arms behind his back and looked up at the sky, looking very much like he was trying to gather his thoughts. Then he slowly started, "If- no, how. How would you know if an ANBU was breaking a law?"

Ibiki looked surprised at slightly alarmed, "Do you think you've seen and ANBU breaking the law?"

Naruto quickly brought his eyes to his sensei's, "No! No, I just, was thinking about it in the forest, and I realized I didn't know the answer."

'Lie.', Ibiki thought, 'At least partially, and Naruto's either not ready or just plain doesn't want me to know the truth.' The sadist asked, "Are you willing to tell me more about what brought on this train of thought?"

The blond shifted his weight so he was slightly farther away from his sensei, "Not really."

Ibiki noticed his students slight retreat and marked it, but chose not to do anything about it for the time being, "Well... without particulars I can't tell you much, except that Hokage-sama is the only person in the village who knows about every current ANBU mission. Everyone else is told on a need to know basis. So if you think an ANBU is breaking a law, I'd tell the Hokage. He may not confirm or deny your claim because, even as my student, you're not allowed to know much. But if an ANBU is breaking the law and the Third finds out about it, the law-breaker will be dealt with."

Naruto looked disheartened, "So, all I can do is tell the Hokage? And I may not even find out if I was right?"

Ibiki hmmed, "Well there are other options, but without knowing particulars I couldn't really tell you of a better one."

The blond frowned and opened his mouth as if to say something before snapping it shut and looking out over the trees with a thoughtful look on his face. Finally he turned back to Ibiki with a smile, "Thanks sensei! I feel a lot better now!" With that Naruto ran down the wall to greet team eight who were just making it into the clearing.

Ibiki watched his most vibrant student go and sighed, 'Lie.', he thought. The jonin just hoped that Naruto would open up and tell him if there really was a serious problem with an ANBU. At the moment he had no idea if Naruto even trusted him, and he didn't want to push this unless it showed itself to be a true problem. He would need to keep a closer eye on Naruto though. If there was a problem there was no way he'd let his student face it alone.

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Omake

(This doesn't happen in the story. It's more of a what could have been.)

Sakura easily finished the final problem on the test that Asuma had given them. She couldn't see why so many of the genin taking this test were nervous, even if you couldn't answer the questions, cheating wasn't _that _hard. She gave a board yawn and looked at the people sitting on either side of her, on her right was Gaara, and she quickly looked away. On her left was a fairly nondescript male genin. His only selling point was that he too was calm. So she took a glance at his test and, although not done, he was making good headway by cheating. As she looked at that test a wicked grin split her face, she had an idea, and she was bored. So she decided to entertain herself.

She flipped her own test back over, memorized all the answers then erased them. The next time her seatmate looked away she quickly and subtlety switched her test for his, then erased all the answers from the test she had just acquired. The other genin found another answer and looked at his test to write the answer down but froze when he saw the sheet. It was blank.

He carefully looked at the test of the pink-haired girl sitting next to him and noticed that hers, too, was blank. So he looked at the test of the person on the other side of him, and, while it wasn't blank it very clearly wasn't his. Although confused he just gave a small sigh and he looked back at his own test to write down the answer he had just found before he forgot it. Then he tried to remember the previous answers he'd written down, when he couldn't, he started trying to find those answers again.

He had found the answers to eight of the questions and had almost forgotten about his answers mysteriously disappearing, but when he went to write down the ninth he found that once again his test was blank. In surprise, he looked at the tests around him just to make sure one of them wasn't messing with him. The pink-haired girls test now had a few answers on it, but the hand writing was much to girly to be his, and the genin on the other side of him was just finishing writing out the answer to the ninth question, but again the none of the handwriting on that test looked at all like his.

So with a quiet and frustrated growl he once again wrote down the answer he had just acquired and then tried to remember any of the problems he'd answered before. This time he was able to answer a few of the simpler ones. Relived that he wouldn't have to start completely over he started to once again try to glean answers. He only got two more answers down on the paper when he looked down to find his paper once again blank.

Now way beyond frustrated he once again looked at the tests of the two genin sitting around him as he was sure one of them was responsible for his disappearing answers. The pink-haired girl was obviously a dunce she hadn't gotten anything new written since the last time he'd looked at her test and the genin on the other side had his test turned over. Not finding anything, he looked down sullenly at his blank test and blinked. It was completely filled out, and in his own handwriting too. What. The. Heck? Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth he quickly flipped it over and covered it with his entire chest, lest the answers disappear again.

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Sakura quietly laughed at the actions of her left seatmate and quickly finished writing down the answers on her own test. Just in time too, it was only a few minutes after she finished that Asuma stood and gave the final question. It wasn't a hard choice, and her two teammates were still asleep so that made this question easy. She also wasn't very surprised that Gaara stayed he didn't really seem like the fearful type, and the genin on her left didn't look like he was gonna let anything move him from his seat, and the death glares to his teammates proved it. It wasn't until after the test was over and Sakura started to feel a unnervingly familiar chakra that she started to get nervous. As a ball of cloth came flying through he window she gave fearful cry and unthinkingly hide behind Gaara gripping his shoulders and screaming, "Hide me!"

An annoyed Gaara felt the pest clinging to him and quickly acted. Before Sakura had a chance to blink she was wrapped from head to toe in sand. The last thing she ever heard was a muffled, "Desert Funeral!"

...

Thus ended Sakura.

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The genin who had been sitting beside Sakura looked horrified, until he looked down on his test and saw a note in girlish hand writing in the corner. It read, "Did you know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?" Underneath the note was a picture of the girl and an arrow pointing toward her seat. Realizing that she was the cause of his disappearing questions he snorted and slouched lower in his seat, "Serves her right."

A/N Yeah so obviously in the real story Sakura doesn't die. :)


	23. One Month

A/N I have over 400 reviews! Thank you to all of you wonderful reviewers. :) Now to the preliminaries, oh and as fair warning. I have no intention of writing every fight. That would be tedious. I will only write the fights that have significance to the plot. Also, I'm very new to writing fight scenes; so if you would pay particular attention to my fight scenes and tell me what I did well on and what needs work I'd really appreciate it. :) Also I'd like to thank Nex-thanarak for editing the first 12 pages of this chappy. :) Ok I've replaced this chapter with an edited version because, somehow, this website got my unedited copy. So here is the pretty version. Sorry about the mixup.

Chapter 23 – One Month

"I can't believe this!" Sakura grumbled, "Why didn't we think of cutting out our competition in the forest so we could avoid these stupid preliminaries? I should have stuck with hunting down more teams when I had the chance!"

Shikamaru sighed. His teammate had a point. Sure, at the beginning of the test they had a lot of important objectives to complete, but for the last two days they'd been sitting around bored. The Nara's gaze shifted over to Naruto, who was leaning quietly against the balcony railing and not really paying attention to Sakura. Well, Shikamaru thought, maybe not completely bored. The blond had been acting completely different from his normal cheery self ever since they met up again outside the tower. In fact if the Nara hadn't seen the Kyuubi seal appear when the blond had moulded chakra yesterday he'd probably have suspected an imposter.

Still it explained why he hadn't had time to reason out that since the third test was a tournament, only a certain number of genin could participate given time constraints that would no doubt be in place. Well it was too late now and chances were Naruto wouldn't have been able to focus on taking out enemy teams anyway, he certainly wasn't able to focus on anything else after all. Shikamaru frowned in concern, this whole situation would be made so much easier if the blond would just tell his teammates what was wrong, but he was locked up tighter then the seal on his belly. It was times like this that the Nara wished he had an ability like Ino's mind walk jutsu.

Naruto was staring blankly at the wall behind Sakura's head. He may not have been paying much attention to his female teammate, but he could at least work out that she was ticked, and he really wasn't in the mood for her to take out her anger on him. This whole situation sucked really. Ever since he'd talked with Ibiki-sensei about those ANBU in the forest he'd wanted to get some more time alone to really think it over, but thanks to his ever vigilant teammates he was given concern and pestering questions instead. Normally such attention from his teammates would make him happy, but he couldn't tell them about the ANBU activities he'd overseen without possibly getting them all in trouble. No, he just wanted some time alone to sort out his thoughts, and when it finally seems like he'll get that chance it's announced that they'll all have to stay even longer to fight. Joy.

The three genin were pulled out of their various pursuits by the proctor, Gekko Hayate, calling for Sabaku no Gaara and his opponent Akado Yoroi to enter the arena. Gaara let his sand swirl around him as he disappeared, and then reappeared in a tornado of sand on the arena floor. Yoroi just swaggered his way down the stairs until he stood across from Gaara at a range that could almost be considered taunting with its closeness.

"Are you ready?", the jonin asked the two genin.

Yoroi stared at Gaara while feeling no small amount of fear. His rather unique position allowed him a more intimate knowledge of Orochimaru-sama's plans for Konoha than most operatives got, and those plans included this psychotic jinchuuriki. He would have given anything to not be the one called to face off against Gaara, but it was too late now.

As a dumb Konoha genin he shouldn't know anything about what Gaara is, so he'd have to face this monster and hope he survived long enough to find a believable time to surrender. As he looked at the jonin he realized that the jinchuuriki must have already given his consent because the jonin was staring at him with no small amount of concern. 'Time to make this real.', he thought and then gave a cocky nod to the jonin and right after Hayate began the match.

Yoroi laughed, "What does a little toothpick like you think your gonna do going up against your betters. Well, besides die."

Gaara's only response to his goading was to send the sandy cork of his gourd flying toward his opponent. Yoroi easily dodged the cork and watched as sand gushed from Gaara's gourd to surround him in an undulating circular wall. Gaara just stood there confident enough of his ultimate defense to let his opponent have the true first move. So the spy, knowing who his opponent was, but also knowing what those leaf ninja who knew him would expect. He quickly did the hand sign he needed to focus his chakra, and let his chakra coat his hand in an almost flaming blue shell.

If Gaara wanted him to have the first move he'd take it. After all no defense was perfect. Yoroi rushed Gaara and used his flaming hand to strike at the jinchuuriki's face. The sand rose to block his attack before he even got close, but as soon as his glowing hand struck the defense the sand fell to the ground lifeless. Yoroi was sure he heard a gasp of shock somewhere behind him but he didn't get a chance to focus on it as Gaara's eyes narrowed and his sand was willed to attack from several different directions. The spy quickly put as much distance as he could manage between himself and the crazy genin.

As Yoroi watched Gaara carefully he thought about what he had seen and snorted, it seemed the fabled ultimate defense wasn't quite as flawless as people liked to think. It was weak to chakra draining and disruptive techniques, and he was a master of chakra. Maybe he might get out of this alive after all. With a new found confidence he made his plan, and promptly dodged out of the way as Gaara got tired of waiting and sent his sand out to capture him. The fight continued for a few minutes like this. Gaara aggressively sending out his sand, Yoroi dodging it with varying levels of desperation.

Finally there was a lull in the sand attacks and Yoroi got his chance to put his plan into action. He quickly started going through the hand signs of his jutsu and, before Gaara had a chance to once again send out his sand, the spy activated his justu with a shout, "Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique!". The jinchuuriki froze immediately, and taking advantage of the opportunity he'd made Yoroi once again rushed the crazy genin and struck at his face with his flaming hand. Then jumped back in surprise as the sand immediately rose to protect its master.

The spy was confused as Gaara's eyes were clearly glazed with the genjutsu he'd initiated, but the sand was still active. Very cautiously Yoroi once again struck out at the jinchuuriki and while the sand still rose to defend, it made no move to attack. Reassured by this, and having no idea how long the genjutsu would hold the psychotic genin, the spy started attacking at will. With each of his strikes the sand rose to defend and then fell lifeless to the floor as soon as it was touched. Finally with a great deal of effort Yoroi managed to break through the defense and strike his opponent on the face but he was disappointed in the result when all he saw was sand flaking away from the jinchuuriki's face.

When he tried to land another blow the sand threw him away and he heard a most horrifying thing. Gaara screamed. A rage filled scream as his bloodshot eyes came back into focus and he snarled, "Mother will have your blood." With that, the increasingly crazy genin sent wave after wave of sand rushing toward the spy.

Seeing his opponent's bloodshot eyes firmly convinced Yoroi that he'd done a good enough job getting away from suspicion, and even if he hadn't, at least Konoha would let him live a little longer. "Proctor! I surrender!", the spy fearfully shouted.

Hayate called the end of the match but Gaara continued with his attack. Just as he was preparing to intervene the jinchuuriki's sensei appeared in a shushin and managed to bring his student under moderate control. The psychopath sent his quivering opponent a final look of promise before returning to the balcony and ignoring everyone.

Yoroi got to his feet and quickly left the building, with many silent genin watching him run and, oddly enough, no one felt like calling him a coward.

A coughing fit from Hayate brought attention back to him, and as the coughs subsided he called, "Will Kinuta Dosu and Sabaku no Kankuro please come to the floor."

Both genin went to the arena in unimpressive ways. The jonin asked if the two opponents facing off were ready to begin. At their affirming nods Hayate started the match and jumped to a safe distance. For a minute neither combatant moved. Then Kankuro spoke, "Are you just going to stand there staring?"

Dosu was carefully studying his competitor and didn't bother to acknowledge the taunt. When he felt he'd gotten a bit of a measure of his adversary he rushed forward and at the last moment struck with his melody arm. Kankuro dodged out of the way but the sound waves still struck him. Dosu's eyes widened in surprise as instead of a cry of pain his foe's face shattered revealing the face of a puppet beneath.

The sound genin jumped back, and looked to see where his opponent could've hidden himself. Then he saw the bundle on the puppets back. If he was facing the puppet, odds were good that the puppet master was the one being carried. He rushed the puppet again and was forced to dodge as a brace of shuriken came his way. As soon as he was out of danger from the shuriken he continued forward, and saw a pipe protrude from the puppets mouth. His eyes once again widened as purple gas sprayed from the pipe. He took a deep breath and held it as he ran straight through the toxic cloud. When he could see again he was finally close enough to strike out at the bundle on the puppets back.

When the vibrations from his melody arm hit the bundle the entire puppet shuddered, and started to collapse. Then the entire stomach dropped off of the puppet and all the smoke bombs it had been concealing burst, covering almost the entire arena floor in smoke. Dosu looked around for his enemy as soon as the smoke cleared and couldn't find him anywhere. After almost a minute of fruitless searching he disrupted his chakra to see if he had somehow been put in a genjutsu, but nothing changed.

Finally after nearly five minutes Kankuro came from behind the giant hands controlling his puppet confidently from the side opposite of Dosu. The sound genin was angry that his competitor would feel so confident after feeling the effects from his melody arm, but a tiny voice was telling him that something wasn't right.

"Is that sound thing the best you've got? If I strongly suggest you go back to the academy and find ninjutsu that actually does something."

At those words Dosu saw red and promptly ignored the little voice as he rushed forward. He would show that upstart puppeteer exactly how well his melody arm worked. When he was in range he struck out at the other genin, but this time Kankuro was ready and dodged far enough to avoid the physical _and _sound attack. That made Dosu even angrier and the next few minutes of the fight were lost in an almost berserker rage.

He started to slowly come back to himself as he worked out his aggression and saw that the puppet master was subtly pushing him to go behind the hands that Kankuro had hidden behind for nearly five minutes earlier in the fight. A wave of fear crashed into him and then left as quickly as it came. Five minutes was more than enough time to set up all sorts of nasty surprises, and he didn't want any part of that so when his foe once again subtly pushed him towards the hands. Dosu quickly looked for another way to dodge that took him farther away from them.

This game of cat and mouse lasted for less then a minute when the sound genin was finally able to once again hit his enemy with sound waves. This time there was a cry of pain as Kankuro collapsed to the ground, and that cry was music to Dosu's ears. He looked down upon his foe to demand his surrender lest he make his suffering worse. But when he laid eyes on what he thought was his opponent, all he saw was another puppet a shocked gasp escaped him as he tried to back up. But before he had a chance to really respond the second puppet opened up and swallowed Dosu. Then the first puppet broke into various pieces with blades on the ends of the limbs and pointed toward holes in the second puppet.

The real Kankuro stepped out from behind the hands and said to the proctor, "He can't escape and with one more move I can end his life. Will you call the end of the match?"

Hayate nodded, "The winner of this match is Kankuro." With that the suna genin roughly dumped the defeated genin out of his puppet and made his way back up to his team. Dosu sent a murderous glare Kankuro's way and then slowly made his way over to his obviously unhappy master. Dosu almost winced. This failure would cause his master to heap a great deal of pain upon his head.

Sakura watched Kankuro head back to his team and as she did ideas of what she could do with an ability like the suna genin's puppetry made her mind come alive. She hardly paid attention as the computer that was randomly selecting the names of opponents once again started with its annoying beeping, and stopped on the names of Tsuchi Kin Vs. Nara Shikamaru. Kin smirked and quickly made it to the arena floor. Shikamaru sighed and muttered, "Troublesome.", before joining his competitor on the floor. Hayate quickly started the match and then went to a safe distance. The Nara raised his hand and said, "I s-".

"Shikamaru don't you dare!", Naruto shouted and Sakura added, "If you even think about surrendering I'll let you surrender the ability to eat for a week!"

A bead of sweat formed on the shadow user's brow as he hurriedly changed tact mid-word, "-ure wasn't going to surrender!", Then he sighed and looked at his foe, "This is troublesome but if I don't beat you my teammates will make sure I don't get any peace, so I guess I'll just need to take care of you quickly."

Kin snorted, "You're confident aren't you? What makes you think I'll be the one losing?"

The Nara yawned, "Besides the point that statistically Kunoichi are weaker than Shinobi? I've already beaten you."

Kin leveled a lethal glare at Shikamaru, "I've worked my entire life to be strong so no one could compare me to those pathetic kunoichi who only become ninja to impress a boy! I will defeat you to show you how wrong you are!" The kunoichi tried to raise her hand to throw senbon at her enemy, but found that she couldn't move, "W-what?"

Shikamaru looked at Kin intently, "I told you I've already beaten you." With that the Nara threw himself back towards the wall as hard as he could and the kunoichi followed the movement. Kin was much closer to her wall than Shikamaru was to his, so right before the girl hit her wall, the shadow user released his Kagemane and flipped around to land feet first on his side, while Kin crashed into her wall and slid toward the ground, her consciousness fading.

Before she blacked out though she saw her opponent come over to her and kneel down, "Just so you know, while statistics do say most kunoichi are weaker than shinobi. I know way too many strong kunoichi to ever fully believe that. I fought you like I would an equal, and I have no idea how strong you're capable of being, but if you're anything like the other girls I know, I'm glad I took you out fast."

Then Kin fell into darkness, and surprisingly, she didn't feel any anger toward her victor. Shikamaru ambled his way up the stares and mumbled at his teammates, "There, I won. Will you two leave me alone now?" Naruto just grinned and slapped Shikamaru on the back, and Sakura gave him a congratulatory hug that the Nara quickly squirmed out of.

"Will Hyuuga Neji and Tsurugi Misumi please come to the arena?", Hayate called.

Neji sneered as the two genin got down to the floor, "I will give you this one chance to forfeit before I destroy you. It is my fate to win this day."

Misumi laughed, "Aren't we overconfident? Let me show you what a _real _chunin candidate should look like."

As soon as the proctor started the match the Oto spy leapt forward and even as he ran several snaps could be heard coming from his arms as they lengthened and began to move in a serpentine fashion. When he was in range his arms shot out and tried to wrap around the Hyuuga.

Neji dodged the first arm and struck out at the second with a jyuuken strike. When the strike hit, the arm collapsed like a puppet who had lost its strings. Misumi gave a cry of outrage as he directed his other arm to strike at the Hyuuga again. Neji quickly incapacitated the second arm and then spun in to land a paralyzing jyuuken strike to his opponent's head.

As the Oto spy collapsed in a heap Neji snorted, "You should have accepted my mercy. Your fate has always been to lose to me." Then the victorious genin went back to his team, with Misumi glaring at him the entire way. There was a pause in the preliminaries as the medics carefully moved the paralyzed genin off of the floor.

Sakura sighed and stared at Neji as he rejoined his teammates. Naruto glanced sideways at Sakura in concern, "Uh Sakura, you're not thinking of joining the Neji fan club. Are you?"

The pink haired girl broke her gaze from Neji to glare at her teammate, "No, you idiot. At twelve there are _way_ better things to do with my time than chase after a boy. I was just thinking about how nice it would be if medics had an ability like jyuuken. One that could manipulate things beneath the skin without cutting a person open."

For an instant Naruto and light bulb became synonymous. Meanwhile Shikamaru was intrigued by his female teammate's point of view, "Is something like that possible?"

Sakura shrugged, "Most medics don't think so. It hasn't really been researched in the last fifty years or so though. Tsunade-sama declared it was impossible before she left Konoha, and no one even thinks of contradicting anything she's said about medicine."

Naruto was surprised, "What? Why? That seems like a good way to go nowhere fast."

The girl looked a bit blankly at her teammate, "Because, you knucklehead, she was the best. No one in the last fifty years has even come close to her skill. Honestly the idea of going against something she taught makes me nervous, but I have so many ideas."

The Nara yawned, "It seems to me that the only way civilization could progress is if someone eventually gets the guts to go against social beliefs and norms. Look at the Sage of Six Paths. Before him everyone followed the belief that chakra could only be used internally, and if you tried to use it to manipulate nature you would be going against natures laws and she would exact her vengeance by draining you of all your chakra. But because the Sage defied this belief and had the courage to try something thought to be impossible, we have our modern knowledge of ninjutsu."

"But Shikamaru,", Naruto said, "You forgot to mention that the Sage of Six Path's discoveries is what lead to the great clan wars."

Sakura gave a shaky laugh, "Thanks for that shot of confidence, Naruto."

The blond looked guilty and was about to reply when Team Psych's discussion was interrupted by the proctor calling out, "Will Kamikaze Rai and Akimichi Choji please come to the floor."

"What?", Sakura said in surprise, "What is Choji doing here? I thought team seven was unable to enter since Sasuke was barred from taking the exams."

It was Naruto who answered, "Didn't you hear? When team seven found out about Sasuke's punishment Ino petitioned her sensei to allow her and Choji to enter the exams anyway, stating that Sasuke's punishment should not extend to those of the team who had done nothing wrong. The petition was successful and they were allowed to enter with an older genin named Rai who had lost both of her teammates while on a mission."

The three genin watched as Rai threw a lightning bolt at Choji that, had it hit, would have paralyzed the boy, maybe permanently.

Sakura winced, "She isn't exactly acting emotionally stable is she? Why on earth would you fry an ally?"

Naruto shrugged, "Apparently that's pretty common. She's supposed to like frying... well, just about anything."

The other two genin shuddered and Shikamaru spoke, "Naruto, have you been hanging around the jonin water coolers again?"

The blond blushed. "Hehe, well I am supposed to be practicing my acting."

Shikamaru just sighed and moved on. "I had a thought that I think we should consider. I just wish I had thought of it before I fought."

"What is it Shika?" Sakura asked.

The Nara stared blankly down at the fight below, "Not all the genin that are potential spies are going to make it through to the finals. Heck, Kabuto's already quit. We need to have at least one person in the finals, and one person out. Since all of us are already at chunin level the chances of even one of us getting beaten in a fair fight are slim, especially since most of the strongest genin have already been taken out. I'm already in the finals so that's covered. But I think one of you should throw your match."

The shadow user's teammates stared at him like he'd lost his mind. In the background you could vaguely hear Choji be announced the winner of his fight and the call for Sabaku no Temari and Makuboshi Tenten to come down.

Finally Sakura took a shaky breath and spoke, "How will we decide which one of us will throw our match?"

Naruto huffed, "Straws would be fairest, or if we don't have straws... I guess Shika could think of a number between one and ten and we both guess."

The Nara nodded, "Alright I've got the number. What are your guesses?"

"Six.", Sakura said.

"Ten.", Naruto said at the same time.

Shikamaru tilted his head towards the blond, "Naruto won, the number was 9.75."

Sakura groaned, "Great. I really hope I end up going up against someone who it won't be embarrassing to lose to."

Just then Hayate announced Temari as the winner of the match and the computer showed its next choice of opponents. Yamanaka Ino Vs. Haruno Sakura. The pink haired girl groaned, and Naruto looked caught between feeling sympathy for his teammates soon to be humiliation and the desire to laugh at its ridiculousness. Deciding to err on the side of not getting killed by his teammate he offered, "Hey maybe you could pretend to trip and knock yourself out on your way down the stairs. That would be a little less embarrassing, right?"

Sakura gave Naruto a glare filled with killing intent as she growled, "Thank you once again for the moral boost ya knucklehead." That said she spun around to stomp down the steps, and promptly tripped on the second one. So while Ino entered the arena with the beauty and grace which was pretty much all she was known for, Sakura fell into it as a groaning tumbled heap. Even Shikamaru couldn't stop his laugh this time. Although both teammates knew they were going to be going through a couple of weeks of unhealed scrapes for their laughter, it was worth it.

Ino watched Sakura fall into the arena and felt her already soaring confidence soar higher. Sakura may have her beat in book smarts, but in application of skills there was no contest. The Yamanaka was and always would be better than her rival in that field. This fight was hers. Sakura finally pulled herself out of her groaning heap to limp to stand across from Ino, "Get ready Ino-pig! There's no way I'm letting you win this or any other fight! I'll beat you here and prove once and for all that I'm the one who belongs with Sasuke-kun!"

At this declaration Naruto shuddered, "It's really creepy hearing her say that again." Shikamaru felt a sleepy affirmative grunt was enough of a reply.

At first Ino just blinked in surprise a her rival's shout, she almost said Sakura could have Sasuke. But then her competitive streak rose in defiance and old habits returned, "You wish, Forehead! The only one worthy of Sasuke-kun's heart here is me!"

Hayate sighed and began the match, then slowly made his way to his observation point in spite of the fact that the competitors were already at each others throats. Something told him these two didn't pose any particular danger to anybody. Except maybe causing everyone in hearing range to go deaf by banshee wail.

The Yamanaka created four clones holding knives that they immediately threw, but her rival easily dodged all the knives, then she sent another knife whistling at Sakura from a point behind her left ear. The pink-haired girl couldn't tell exactly where the knife was coming from so she quickly dropped to the ground and was forced to roll out of the way as Ino sent a powerful kick at her side.

Ino was feeling pretty good a minute and forty-five seconds into the fight when her rival still hadn't been able to pull herself together and retaliate. Yep, she was so winning this fight. But the Yamanaka's preemptive belief in her victory caused her to mistime a block and Sakura came at her with a right hook to the face. By the time Ino realized her miscalculation the only thing she could do was watch in morbid fascination as the blow came at her. The blond looked past the fist to the face of the one who was directing it in time to see Sakura's eyes widen and then the blow came. But, what should have been a knockout blow turned out to have barely more force than what it would take to leave a light bruise.

Now Ino was confused; even in the academy Sakura hadn't been weak enough for a full right hook to leave so little pain. Then there was the fact that Sakura noticed that she would hit the Yamanaka, and _her eyes widened. _They should have shown pleasure, that punch would have won her the match, but she had looked worried instead. The only explanation Ino could think of for such a weak punch was if Sakura had held back, but why would she do that?

For the rest of the fight the Yamanaka split her focus between fighting her hardest and watching Sakura's responses. The more Ino watched the more clear it became that her rival was trying to throw the match, and the depressing thing was that her supposed failures weren't all that well covered. From a distance it would probably just look like the pink haired girl was really clumsy, but from this close it was really easy to see how hard it was for Sakura to hold herself back to the Yamanaka's level.

As this realization came over Ino she started to feel ticked. How dare her rival disrespect their rivalry by letting her win? A part of the blond was half tempted to forfeit right then and there, just for some revenge. The rest was just angry. At Sakura, and at herself. When had her rival gotten so strong? And if Haruno could take down the Yamanaka as easily as it seemed she could, why was she throwing the match? What was more important to Sakura than becoming a chunin?

The blond pulled herself out of the cat fight that their battle had degraded into, and just stared at Sakura.

The pink haired girl didn't give her long to stare though as she said, "This fight is getting old pig. What do you saw we end it faster?" Ino hesitantly nodded and Sakura continued, "Alright I propose we do this, we each throw our strongest technique at the other, but to make it more interesting neither of us can move from the spot we're on now or we automatically lose. Whoever wins this contest wins the fight." Sakura shifted her stance, "Ready?"

Ino once again nodded and both girls started flipping their hands through hand signs. Sakura finished first as she shouted, "Gen: Cherry blossom barrage!"

The blond quickly followed with a call of, "Mind/Body Switch!" As Ino's mind made its way over to her rival's body she noted that the Haruno's choice of jutsu was more proof that she was trying to throw this match. After all Sakura would know that the only Yamanaka technique Ino would know at this point would be mind/body switch, and her Yamanaka moves would be much stronger than anything else she could do, especially with the movement restrictions working in her favor. Sakura knew that genjutsu didn't work on a Yamanaka that was in the middle of a mind/body switch. So this whole challenge was absolutely idiotic for the Haruno to initiate, and the pink haired girl was not an idiot. Still Sakura obviously had a reason to lose, as weird as that sounded, so Ino would let her.

From a point of view outside of the two combatants. The fight now looked very boring. For the last 15 seconds both fighters had just been standing staring at each other, while staying completely still. Finally Sakura moved by putting her head down and sighing, then she looked right at the proctor and raised her hand, "Proctor, I forfeit."

The jonin quirked an eyebrow, then nodded, "Winner Yamanaka Ino."

Shikamaru sighed, "If I didn't know that it was Ino controlling Sakura that caused her to quit, I'd be pretty ticked at her for yelling at me earlier for trying to do the exact same thing.

Naruto gave his best friend a small smile than looked back down at the two rivals, and frowned in concern, "Shika, Ino's back in her own body again, but Sakura's still not moving."

The Nara's brow furrowed and he jumped off the balcony to join the medics at Sakura's side. With Naruto following right behind him, "Is she alright?" the shadow user asked.

The medic who was examining the unconscious girl glanced up, "There's nothing physically wrong with her. However her mental chakra is unbalanced, most likely by the mind/body switch jutsu being released improperly. Her unconscious state is a defense mechanism to keep her mental chakra from unbalancing further due to stimuli. She isn't in any danger, but she will stay unconscious until her chakra gets realigned."

The medics began to put her on a stretcher but Naruto stopped them, "Thank you. But if she really does just need to rest we'll take care of her. Sakura doesn't like waking up in strange places." Naruto grinned, "Besides, if she wakes up in time I know she'll want to see the last of the matches."

The medics nodded and left, while the blond boy gently picked up his teammate and took her back up to the balcony. As soon as the arena floor was cleared the proctor called for the next match, which was between Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku, to begin.

The two conscious members of Team Psych were too focused on their teammate to watch that match, but when the match between Rock Lee and Hyuuga Hinata was called they were confident enough of their teammate's condition to turn and watch the fight.

It was after Lee and Hinata's very messy fight that Sakura reawakened with a groan. "Sakura!" Naruto happily shouted.

The pink haired girl winced. "Ow, Naruto not so loud!" Naruto blushed and quietly apologized. The Haruno waved his apology off and asked, "What did I miss?"

"You missed two fights.", Shikamaru answered, "One was between Shino and someone named Abumi Zaku. I didn't pay much attention to that fight, but I know that Shino won. The second fights was between Lee and Hinata, and it was impressive. They even managed to tear up the arena. We're on break now while they fix the arena back to a fair approximation of what it should be."

Naruto butted in. "Yup, then Kiba and I will fight the last match of the preliminaries."

Sakura nodded and yawned, "So who won the Lee/Hinata fight?"

"Lee," Shikamaru said, "but only barely. Hinata showed everyone her skill when she nearly beat Lee. I never knew she had it in her."

The blond nodded, "Yeah it was amazing. Hinata used this move that caused narrow strings of chakra to come out of her hands, but the chakra strings acted more like blades than anything, than she spun her arms around at crazy directions to keep Lee away from her even with how fast he is. With Lee's experience fighting Neji I thought Hinata wouldn't stand a chance, but with her new move she held her own until Lee got desperate enough to open the gates."

The Haruno smiled. "Good for Hinata."

A few minutes later Hayate called for Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba to come down. Kiba laughed, "We lucked out Akamaru! Can you imagine an easier opponent than the dobe of our class?"

Naruto gave a defeated sigh, "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Not for a few years at least," Shikamaru answered.

The blond's face took on a deadpan expression, "Thanks for the hope Shika." Naruto turned to head down to the arena but was stopped by Sakura calling out to him. "Yeah, Sakura?"

The Haruno gave Naruto a falsely sweet smile, "Don't lose, Naruto. If you do then my humiliating defeat will have been for nothing, and if that's true..." Sakura's sickeningly sweet smile turned into a murderous glare as she growled, "there will be _consequences_."

Naruto gulped and beat a hasty retreat down to the arena floor. When both genin were in the arena Hayate called the start of the match. One of Kiba's fangs showed as he gave an arrogant smirk, "I'll be nice and end this quickly." Then the feral boy fell into a half crouch and shouted, "Beast mimicry!". With his shout his claws and fangs lengthened, and his already wild hair grew wilder. Then the dog boy rushed at Naruto, far faster then he could before, while giving a ferocious cry.

Naruto knew that he had to act weaker than he was but really? Did he have to take a hit to the face? He was moving to step out of the way when Kiba's fist smashed into his face. The blond flew backwards and rolled his eyes as he collided with the wall. 'Well,' the jinchuuriki thought, 'there went _that _decision.'

Up in the balcony Sakura groaned, "What is he doing?" Shikamaru just shrugged.

Kiba laughed at his downed opponent, "I told you I'd end it fast."

Naruto growled and slowly stood up, "You think that's all I've got dog boy? I haven't even started!" The blond put his hands together in the cross seal and shouted out, "Shadow clone jutsu!" Ten identical copies of the jinchuuriki immediately appeared, and rushed his feral enemy.

The Inuzuka took a step back in surprise before throwing a soldier pill to Akamaru and performing the Man/Beast clone technique. Then two identical Kibas waded into the fray. The rather breakable Narutos fell quickly to the onslaught, but not without leaving a few scrapes and bruises of their own. When the last shadow clone fell the two versions of the feral genin turned to take on the original. But before they could get there ten more blond clones popped into being. Once again they were quickly taken out, but this time the Inuzuka duo didn't take nearly as many hits. Kiba laughed, "Keep it coming dobe! I could do this all day."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto shouted, "Well just wait till I show you my ultimate jutsu." The blond started flying through hands signs and gathering a ton of chakra, and the more Kiba saw the more worried he became. This looked like the kind of jutsu a genin wouldn't normally get. Especially not a dobe like Naruto. The feral genin relayed a few silent instructions to his partner, and sent the puppy to carry them out.

Naruto was having fun. Kiba was looking really nervous about the mysterious jutsu, and the blond was enjoying the moment. It wasn't a big scary jutsu of course, he was just creating more shadow clones than he had before. The hand signs weren't for anything more than intimidation, which was totally working. The Uzumaki finished the last 'hand sign' and was about to release the chakra into his jutsu when he felt pain coming from the area around his left ankle. In his surprise he released the chakra as he looked down. He saw Akamaru biting his ankle, and he'd just released enough chakra to create a hundred clones, "Oh cra-", Naruto started before he was enveloped in a puff of smoke.

When the smoke cleared there were two Akamarus standing side by side, one of them was letting out a very unhappy whine. Kiba snorted, "This is your big, scary jutsu? Turning into an illusion of my dog? HA! I really shouldn't have expected more from a dobe."

The puppy Uzumaki let out a pretty scary growl right before he launched himself at Kiba. The feral genin didn't even have time to react as the false Akamaru attached itself to his head and started doing its best to maul him, "Ack!" the Inuzuka cried. The real Akamaru knocked the fake one off of Kiba before the boy could respond. But the Naruto dog knew more about chakra than Akamaru did, and used that knowledge to coat his teeth and claws in wind chakra.

The real Akamaru didn't have all that much chakra, and Naruto was now an exact copy of the puppy due to the DNA in the bite. Because of that Naruto now had tiny chakra reserves too, and he had to say it was a new feeling. Naruto looked at the clock. It had been 30 seconds. He had to stay in this form for at least two minutes or he'd risk his own DNA getting scrambled.

So, a minute and a half left as a runted puppy with hardly any chakra. Joy.

Well nothing for it but to fight. Naruto jumped on top of Akamaru and quickly knocked the real puppy out. Then the Uzumaki jumped back onto Kiba and cheerfully went about shredding anything in reach with wind coated teeth and claws.

The Inuzuka was running around in dismay as he tried to get the demon version of his dog off of him. But every time he took a swipe at the hell-spawn it would move and just start mauling him all the more and it was really starting to hurt! Finally Kiba had had enough. "Proctor!" the poor boy shouted. "I give, I give, just get this thing off me!"

The 'thing' immediately jumped off of the feral boy and stared at the clock as he was announced the winner. 23 seconds later he was up in a cloud of smoke and a real boy was left in his place, With a disgusted look on his face and spitting, "Ugg, Kiba you taste terrible." Behind him he could hear someone slap their forehead (that had to be Shikamaru), and an answer from Sakura, "I know, I can't think of a more humiliating way to win a fight. Unless it was by a fart, or something." Naruto turned and _glared _at his female teammate.

The Hokage cleared his throat and the whole room's attention was instantly on him. Even Kiba and the medics that were treating him and Akamaru. "Well done to all the genin. For those of you who won. You are dismissed until one month from today when the final exam will be held at 0900 in Konoha's grand arena. Dismissed." With his speech delivered the Sandaime quickly disappeared in a shushin before anyone could ask him questions.

Naruto moved to follow his Kages example by quickly leaving the building when he heard Sakura call out to him. With a sigh Naruto turned to look at his female teammate and asked, "What Sakura?"

The Haruno gave the blond a look of confusion, "We need to report what we've discovered to the Hokage. He'll be waiting."

The Uzumaki wanted to groan. He was all confused about what he'd seen in the forest, the last thing he needed right now was to see the likely perpetrator of his confusion. "Not right now Sakura."

The girls pink eyebrows shot up in surprise, "What do you mean 'not right now'! We have a responsibility to report whet we've seen and complete this part of our mission! I know you're not exactly on good terms with Hokage-sama right now, but that's no reason to shirk your duty!"

Naruto's eyes flashed, "Not right now Sakura!"

The Haruno growled in frustration, "You're acting like such a child Naruto!"

"I know!" the blond shouted then he looked down in shame and mumbled, "I'll meet you at the Hokage Tower in an hour. Until then, leave me alone." With that Naruto quickly ran away.

Sakura spun to Shikamaru in a huff, "What's his problem! I know he's and the Third aren't all buddy buddy right now but blowing off a mission, seriously?"

Shikamaru was staring at the door that Naruto had disappeared through in concern, "The easy answer to that would be that the relationship between our friend and the Sandaime has changed and Naruto's still trying to figure out this new dynamic, but-" Shikamaru stared of thoughtfully.

"But..." Sakura prompted.

The Nara turned a very intense look on Sakura, "But this can't just be that. I remember the first time my father gave me an order as a jonin to a genin. I didn't see it the way he wanted me to and I rebelled. My father taught me a lesson I'll never forget that day. When a superior gives an order you obey it and if that superior happens to be your dad, well, you still obey it. My dad and I worked out a system so that I know when he's talking to his son, or when he's talking to the genin. It works well for us, but Naruto hasn't gotten that far with Hokage-sama, and I don't think that's all that's wrong. It may have started out that way, if fact I'm pretty sure that it did, but something is fanning the flames and making Naruto angrier than he ever was at the beginning."

The Haruno frowned, "What do you think is setting him off?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "I don't know but I do know that in the early days of this there were several times when Naruto calmed down enough to reason things out and a few times he was even gonna go and try to work things out with the Hokage, but by the next time I saw him, he was always at least as angry as he was before. Now he's so mad that I don't think he's thinking clearly about anything. Honestly, I'm getting really worried about him, but I don't know what to do. People aren't really my thing."

The pink haired girl frowned, "Well I thought they were mine, but I didn't see any of this. I guess we give his some space, and try to keep a close eye on him so he doesn't do anything stupid?"

The Shadow user was about to agree when he felt something coming from the forest that caused his head to whip around in fear, "Was that...?"

Sakura nodded and as their eyes met answered, "The Kyuubi's chakra." Both genin went tearing out into the forest.

.

.

Hiruzen wanted to curse the fool who came up with the idea of chunin exams they were great for business sure but the amount of paperwork they generated for the hosting village was atrocious. Yes, he thought, whoever came up with the idea of chunin exams should suffer a terrible fate. It was at this moment that the Third felt a burst of the Kyuubi chakra, a chakra the host had promised only a few weeks ago that he would never use. Concerned, he called for Tenzo to go and bring Naruto to him. It was after Tenzo had left that he remembered that he had been the one to come up with the chunin exams with the thought of the curse he'd just given himself in his mind, he suddenly felt a foreboding about sending Tenzo after Naruto.

.

.

As soon as Naruto had gotten away from his teammate's he created no less than a hundred clones and had them all come at him. He tore through his doppelgangers with a passion and soon lost himself to all but the rhythm of the fight, jump-dodge left- three coming at you duck and send out a wind scythe- one coming with a drop kick- twist to the side- get out of the mass- pause.

While he waited for his clones to catch up with him his confusing thoughts once again invaded his mind, 'Not right now!' he shouted in his thoughts, but the confusion just continued to come to swamp him. With a desperate cry Naruto threw himself back into the center of his clones and did all he could to blank his thoughts. He refused to think about anything, not his chakra, not what move he was going to do next, he blanked his mind and let his body rely entirely on instinct.

He was brought out of his peaceful numbness though when his he saw a tree topple from a perfectly cut base and burst into flames. He looked back over what move he had done to cause such an effect and came to the memory. He had sent out an overcharged wind scythe but something was strange about it, an unknown element. He tried to remember the ratio of his chakra composition when he'd set it off and paled as he finally recognized what the unknown element had been, the Kyuubi's chakra. He felt sick, but before he had a chance to explore what he had done an ANBU dropped down and sent an attack his way.

His shock wanted to prevent him from moving, but instincts pounded into him by a myriad of sensei overrode his natural response and he ducked and sent three wind laced kunai flying. The ANBU managed to dodge all but one of the faster than average kunai and before Naruto had a chance to once again attack, the boy was enclosed in a wooden box, complete with air holes. Naruto had seen Kankuro use something very similar to this box in the preliminaries a trap that would lead the person inside to being skewered. 'Well,' the boy thought, 'I guess this is it.'

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.

By the time Shikamaru and Sakura made it to where they had felt the Kyuubi's chakra. All they could find was a clearing that had been demolished, and a few drops of blood.


	24. One Month part 2

A/N I'm having the Uchiha's intercepting fist as Sasuke's fighting style. If this is the idea of one particular author, I'm sorry. Feel free to tell me if you don't want me to use it and I'll rewrite that part.

Chapter 24- One Month part 2

Hiruzen looked up as an ANBU came into his office with a wooden box, then sighed as he opened the box and unceremoniously dumped Naruto onto the floor. The Third shook his head, "I realize you're no longer exactly enthusiastic about coming to my office Naruto, but resisting to the point of needing to be put in a wooden box?"

Naruto snorted, "You're one to talk old man. Getting a kick out of sending your ANBU out to attack jinchuuriki are we?"

Sarutobi was surprised by the familiar way the boy addressed him but was even more so at the question the blond had asked, "What do you mean? I haven't sent ANBU out to attack anyone."

The Uzumaki snorted, "Right, thats why your ANBU gave me a nice big wave of mud spikes as his greeting."

The Sandaime's eyes flashed as he looked at a suddenly very stiff ANBU. Hiruzen gave Naruto a gentle smile, "Well I sent my ANBU out after you when I felt you use the Kyuubi's chakra. I wanted to make sure you were ok and had my ANBU bring you here for that reason, it's clear that you are alright but you might want to refrain from using the demon's chakra without good reason, it raises-"

The Third cut off when Shikamaru and Sakura burst into the room panting with Sakura shouting something. Both genin fell silent, however, when they saw Naruto. Then the Haruno ran forward and gave her friend a hug; she promptly followed this gesture of affection with a no longer common smack upside the head, "You Baka! Do you have any idea how worried we were about you? We felt the Kyuubi's chakra and by the time we got to where it had come from you were gone and all that was left was a demolished clearing and _blood_!"

The blond scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Was there anyone who didn't feel that chakra?"

Now that the Nara was sure his friend was alright he leaned back against the wall and yawned as he answered, "I doubt it."

The blond slouched down in guilt, "I'm sorry guys. I lost my temper and the Kyuubi's chakra must have just... slipped out while I wasn't paying attention." Naruto glared at the masked ninja that was still in the room, "Then mister spike happy here decided it would be a good idea to attack me and drag me before the Hokage when I would have happily come under my own power had I known I was called." The ANBU now manged to somehow look embarrassed.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, "About that, care to explain why you attacked Naruto, tiger?"

The ANBU scratched the back of his head and said, "I went to retrieve the target as ordered, but when I got there a flaming tree came at me and I responded to the threat without really thinking things through. I, uh, may have over reacted Hokage-sama."

"Ya think!" the blond snorted.

Sarutobi sighed, "This is all very interesting, but I have work to do and I only wanted to ensure that Naruto was alright. Now that that is clear, and we've worked out why Naruto arrived in a box, you three genin are free to leave."

Sakura scrunched her shoulders inward in chagrin as she said, "Um... H-hokage-sama? W-with your permission. We three do have a mission report due and since we're all here anyway, could we give it now?"

Hiruzen sighed, "I hadn't expected you to be ready for your oral report yet. However if you are, I suppose now would be the best time to receive it," the Third turned his eyes to the nearly hiding ANBU. "Tiger please wait outside." The masked ninja saluted and promptly vanished. The Sandieme turned his attention back to the three genin and gestured for them to proceed with their report.

Naruto started by telling the Hokage that Suna did indeed intend to attack in one month's time, and also that they suspected that Kabuto was a spy for Orochimaru, and then Shikamaru told his story of nearly meeting the infamous traitor to the carefully blank-faced third. The three genin were just wrapping up their report when an ANBU poofed in and knelt at the Third's side and breathlessly panted, "Hokage-sama... our mission in the forest of death... failed and my two teammate's are dead."

The blond genin went bone white at these words, and Sarutobi had never looked more angry as he shouted at the ANBU, "Silence!" he turned to the genin and ordered, "You are dismissed! Tell Tiger to come in here on your way out."

The Uzumaki ran out of the room as soon as Hiruzen was done talking and his teammates soon followed after him. Sakura only stopped chasing her erratically-behaving friend long enough to tell Tiger the Third's command then she continued chasing after her other two teammates.

The mad chase after Naruto finally ended on the Fourth's stone head and the Haruno caught her breath for more reasons than the run. She always forgot how beautiful it was up here.

The Uzumaki sighed when his two teammates caught up with him on top of the monument. He honestly didn't know why he still came up here. The Yondiame was certainly not his hero anymore, and really he was finding it harder and harder to be impressed with any of the other Hokages Konoha had had. If half the Hokages sucked, it was a pretty good guess that the other two were probably lemons as well.

The blond looked over at the Sandiame's giant stone head. So the Hokage had ordered the death of Gaara and for no reason other than that he was a jinchuuriki, and therefore too great a threat. The Uzumaki couldn't help but wonder if the Third would ever send ANBU after him like that if he behaved too erratically. It gave paranoia a whole new meaning to know that the leader of the village you were loyal to might decide to kill you at any time. Too bad this knowledge probably wasn't just a delusion.

Shikamaru was really not happy with his blond teammate right now. What was with all the unpredictability and what the heck was eating him? Well in this case he probably wouldn't find out by thinking so... "What's eating you?" Sakura asked Naruto.

The blond glanced at his female teammate then went back to looking back over the village. He remembered why he kept coming to this spot, it reminded him of all the reasons he was still loyal to this village, "I can't tell you," was the jinchuuriki's response.

The Haruno gave a growl of annoyance, "Not this again. Just tell us what's wrong so we can help you."

Naruto gave a mental sigh, this was the same argument the three of them had been having since they got out of the forest. It was no good, his teammates weren't going to give it up so... "I saw something I shouldn't have seen, and if anyone finds out I saw it, I... will be in trouble. If I tell you, well, you'll be in trouble too and that's all I'm gonna say on this."

The Uzumaki turned and looked his teammates straight in the eyes as he said, "What I saw was disturbing, and I've been trying to figure it out, but I need to be alone to do that. So, I'm going to my apartment now, I promise I won't go anywhere else. But let me go, and leave me be." Naruto turned and jumped off the monument and soon the other two genin were watching him leap over the rooftops toward his home.

Shikamaru let his teammate go, but his worry was far larger than it had been before. He knew this had something to do with the clone that had gone green enough to be sick in the forest; he also knew that this had just gone beyond what they, as genin, could handle. It was time to bring in some help, "Come on Sakura we need to go see Ibiki-sensei."

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.

Naruto entered his apartment and collapsed onto the couch with a relieved sigh, finally he had some peace. The blond let his tired eyes slide shut and was soon asleep.

An unknown amount of time had passed when the jinchuuriki was unpleasantly awakened by knock on his door. The boy scowled; if it was Shikamaru and Sakura... With a groan Naruto pulled himself of of his couch and went to pull open the door. He was pleasantly surprised to see Danzo standing there, but he couldn't help but noting that it seemed like the man had an annoying habit of showing up when he really would rather be left alone. The blond smiled wanly, "Hey Band-aid."

The smile that had been on Danzo's face quickly fell into a look of concern, "Are you alright Naruto? You look tired, surely the second test couldn't have been so hard for you."

The Uzumaki shrugged and opened up his door in a silent invitation to enter that the cripple gladly took. Naruto answered his friend's question as they both sat on the couch, "No the test wasn't so hard, but I saw some disturbing things in the forest of death."

The councilman gave a small laugh, "What could a genin have come up with that was bad enough to disturb you who have been tortured?" When the blond winced and looked away Danzo frowned, "It was genin, wasn't it?" Naruto still refused to look at his guest so the cripple ventured carefully, "I, heard a rumor that there would be ANBU activity in the forest during the second test; did you see what they did?"

The blond's flinch was so subtle that had Danzo not been looking for it he would have missed it entirely. The man knew he had hit the mark, but before he could continue his question Naruto looked him straight in the eye with a look on his face that betrayed nothing, "I didn't see any ANBU, only a crazy genin who liked to crush his opponents and to make their blood fall down like rain. I would think that's disturbing enough for anyone don't you?"

The councilman smiled, "A very impressive lie, Naruto. If it were anyone else they would have been fooled. But I was the one who trained Yamanaka Inoichi, and I'm sure you know who that is. So don't try to lie to me, although I was quite impressed with the way you worded that lie. You really did see a genin like that didn't you? But you also saw ANBU."

The Uzumaki's flinch was a bit less subtle this time, "Even if I did, you must know I can't tell you anything without breaking my loyalty with the Hokage."

Danzo sighed, "If you agree to become my student we'll need to work on your ability to lie. You're good at mixing truth with lies and even keeping an honest face while you do that, but you really need to work on your ability to evade the truth when pressed. By your answer you've just admitted that you did see ANBU but I still can't think of what would so disturbing to you. Especially when you understand the dirtiness that comes with black ops missions. Unless, this was something more personal, like, the ANBU coming after you?"

The blond's eyes took on a pinched look but he shook his head, "They weren't after me."

The cripple frowned, "We'll definitely need to work on your ability to lie that answer nearly paints a clear picture. Let me see if the picture I have is right, the ANBU were sent to assassinate someone and you witnessed it. But since just seeing something like that wouldn't make your hands shake like they are right now; I'm guessing whoever they were sent after either has a personal connection with you, or is similar enough to you that you think your life might also be in danger." This time Naruto's flinch wasn't disguised at all.

Danzo's lone eye drooped in sadness, "You didn't flinch until I mentioned your life might be in danger. Surely you don't believe the ANBU would ever come after you? Hiruzen and I may have our difficulties, and you and he may have difficulties as well, but I know my old friend would never try and kill you."

The blond's eyes looked haunted, "You know huh? There was a time I used to know that he would never lie to me either, but he did. About the most important parts of my life too."

The councilman nodded, "That may be true, but there's a vast difference between lying and assassinating a loyal ninja."

The Uzumaki closed his eyes in sorrow, "Even a loyal ninja who has enough power to level a village if he should so decide? Even a loyal ninja who has a crazy demon in his gut that has the slight chance of turning its vessel just as crazy? Would the Third stay his executioner for a jinchuuriki? Even a loyal one?"

The retired ninja's lone eye widened as he considered it what had been said, "I never thought of it that way. But that would still be a misuse of his power as Hokage. Right now you are a loyal, sane ninja, and you have the power to be a great asset to the village. Even with the risk of you betraying us it doesn't make sense to kill you now. We've had other ninja that had the potential to be powerhouses and some were much less mentally stable when compared to you. But my friend still gave them the benefit of the doubt, sometimes even beyond proof. Like Orochimaru, even after that snake was caught red handed Hiruzen still let him live."

Naruto's face took on a thoughtful look, "The Hokage has a lot of experience and knowledge and is very wise, but he's still human. Humans make mistakes, and, if I had to guess, I'd say the more power someone has the bigger their mistakes will be. Like with Orochimaru. That monster is causing all sorts of grief, and has killed hundreds, maybe even more. But the Sandiame still let him live, or like with me, but killing me must be a mistake." The boy ended his thought at an almost whisper.

Danzo was nodding, "It does bring up an interesting point. Hiruzen is our guardian and the watcher of our laws, but who watches the watcher to make sure they do not go too far?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "I don't know, but maybe, maybe someone ought to, watch I mean."

The councilman gave a proud smile, "I quite agree with you and because I can see your potential, and I think you will be receptive, I'm going share something with you." Naruto gave Danzo a curious look and the man continued, "The Shodai pondered over this very question not long after Konoha was founded. He didn't want to see his beautiful village destroyed by the mistakes or even, possibly, the corruption of some future Hokage."

"So, he organized a secret ANBU called Root. An organization that no one, not even the Hokage, was to know about. This organization's first mandate was to watch over the Hokage and correct the mistakes he made, all from the shadows. Our second was to eliminate the Hokage if he proved to be corrupt and replace him with someone who would truly look after the well being of Konoha."

Danzo paused and looked Naruto in the eye, "If Orochimaru had been chosen as the Third's successor Root would have enacted their second mandate. Like the Hokage, the leader of Root is chosen by the former leader and trained to take over that position. Right now I am that leader. However, I am old and crippled. It's time for me to chose a new leader, and I'd like that leader to be you."

The blond looked completely shell shocked, and the only thing he could think to say was, "W-why me?"

The councilman smiled gently, "Because, Naruto, you're perfect for this position. You know how to keep a secret, because your whole life you've kept your true personality a secret. You have the subtlety to lie well and keep important things hidden. The charisma to inspire the loyalty an organization like this must have. The experience with pain that is needed to be able to make the hard choices, and the power needed to carry those hard choices out. You are perfect, and I would be honored to train you as my successor as leader of Root."

Danzo stood up, "I can see that this has overwhelmed you. I'll leave you to think all this over. Take all the time you need to decide whether you want to take on this challenge, but I thought this would be the right time to tell you. I just have one request," the cripple waited until the blond looked him in the eye before continuing, "Don't tell anyone about Root. We cannot achieve our mandates without the secrecy that keeps us safe. If the citizens knew we existed the Hokage could wipe us out and then there would be no one to keep our military dictator in check. I know you always keep your promises, so I'm asking you to please promise not to tell anyone about Root."

Naruto stared at the ground for several minutes just thinking, but when he raised his head, the boy's eyes were lit with a zealous passion, "I will not not tell a soul about Root, and I will think very carefully about your offer. This I promise you."

The councilman gave a nod of satisfaction, "Then I will leave you to your thoughts. If you need help preparing for the third test you know where to find me." With that Danzo left the blond to mull over the startling knowledge he had just received.

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.

At this moment, Ibiki was a happy man. Why? Because he was on vacation. Of course all the ninja were on high alert with so many foreigners in their borders, not to mention the possibility of an attack. But because it wouldn't look good to be torturing foreign ninja when there where a ton of foreign ninja in Konoha; Ibiki wasn't required to go into work unless there was an emergency. So, he finally got the vacation he'd been dreaming about for the last three years. Glorious.

The jonin was happily hunting down a good restaurant for his hot date tomorrow when two of his little students manged to hunt him down. "What are you two here?" Ibiki asked, "You know all of you are going to be promoted after the exams. You would have been promoted already if it weren't for this mission that required you to be genin, so technically I no longer have any responsibility over you, unless of course you come to work for T&I."

The two genin glanced at each other and Shikamaru spoke, "We know that, but you were our sensei and we really don't know who else to turn to."

The jonin frowned, "What's wrong?"

This time it was Sakura who spoke, "It's Naruto he-"

She was cut off when her teammate grabbed her arm, "Not here," the boy said, "We need to go somewhere more private."

At Ibiki's nod they made their way to a nearby roof where visibility was good and places to hide within hearing range were few. Then Shikamaru explained what was happening. Starting with Naruto's unending argument with the Third and ending with the mysterious distressing thing his friend had seen in the Forest of Death. He even reluctantly mentioned how Naruto had been learning wind manipulation from Danzo.

The jonin listened to the entire report with a frown that turned into a scowl when he heard about Danzo. As soon as the report was given he sent his students off with a command not to worry, and then went off to find out what the heck was happening with his wayward student. So much for a vacation.

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.

Sasuke punched angrily at a training post that was already misshapen from abuse. Just a week ago he'd fought his first fight to prove he was worthy of the chunin rank. He fought, and lost. To that feeble Suna puppeteer who didn't even have the courage to look his own teammate in eye. Sasuke's punches got even stronger as he growled and soon he was adding in some kicks in perfect form. He continued to abuse the log until he was too tired to throw one more attack then he collapsed at the base of it and leaned onto it.

He couldn't fail to defeat these opponents, not if he ever wanted to reach his true goal. He had once been considered a genius on the same level as his traitorous brother, but now; he was twelve. Itachi had been an ANBU captain at this age and he was still a genin, and thanks to that ridiculous edict of the Hokage he would stay a genin even longer. Unless he could prove he deserved to be chunin. With a tired grunt and screaming muscles, he pulled himself up and started to go through the first form of the Uchiha's intercepting fist as slowly as he could. But even as he went through the form he could feel his frustration mounting.

He would learn these moves perfectly and he _would _kill his brother using the style he had almost wiped out with his mass slaughter. But this style had one very big weakness. It relied on the sharingan to tell you what your opponent's next move would be so you could intercept it. Sasuke had not yet been in a moment stressful enough to awaken it. He had thought killing Gato would activate it, but his sharingan was still inert. He was starting to worry he wouldn't be able to activate his sharingan at all. The very latest any sharingan user had activated theirs was 14. He would turn 13 in just a few months.

With an angry yell he put as much force as he could muster into the final punch of the first set, but his tired legs couldn't take the sudden change in balance and he toppled forward, and landed face first on the ground. He had tried to raise his arms to catch himself, but after all the abuse they'd gone through there just wasn't enough strength left. The Uchiha lay there feeling defeated when he heard someone clapping on his left side.

With a tired grunt Sasuke forced his fatigued muscles to turn him onto his left side. He decided that getting there was good enough and made no move to stand, but he did study the man who had clapped for him. He was a fairly tall jonin with long, straight black hair, and yellow eyes. "Why are you clapping for my collapse?" the boy asked.

The jonin smiled, "I was clapping for your determination. It's rare to see a genin willing to train themselves to the point of collapse."

The Uchiha frowned, "It's not like I have much of a choice. No one else will train me, and I need to be stronger."

The man quirked an eyebrow, "You need to be stronger? And what would you be willing to give for that strength?"

Sasuke eyes lit with the fire of hate, "All that I have."

The jonin laughed, "Really? Would you be willing to risk your own life?"

The boy gave the man a deadpan look, "I'm a shinobi. I risk my life every day."

For the first time the jonin showed a serious face, "Not like this you don't. I'm trying to invent a seal that will raise the power of the wearer by ten to 100 fold. I have a working prototype, but the survival rate is only one in ten. So if you are willing to risk your life, I can help you increase your power by a very large margin. Is you the risk to your life worth it? Do you want the seal?"

Sasuke closed his eyes in thought, and then nodded, "I can't-no, I _won't_ die until Itachi is dead. This seal won't change my fate. But it will make it easier for me to achieve. Give me the seal."

The man smiled, "As you wish." The jonin flashed through many handsigns, then his neck lengthened and he bit the boy on the junction between his shoulder and neck. Sasuke cried out in agony and he dropped to the ground, unconscious.

As soon as the man finished his jutsu Kabuto came out from the shadow of the trees, "So this will be your next host Orochimaru-sama?"

The traitor nodded, "If he survives." the missing-nin turned to give his subordinate a harsh stare, "I will expect you to do all that is necessary to keep this boy alive. The risk of putting on the curse seal is unavoidable as I need it in place to preform my body-switching technique, but I do not want to lose this body." Orochimaru looked out at the forest, "Also, send one of my spies out to see how much Konoha knows about my plans."

The silver haired genin looked surprised, "Do you think Konoha has discovered something?"

The Oto leader frowned, "They might. That old fool Sarutobi sent a three man squad of ANBU out to spy on me, and one of them got away."

Kabuto nodded, "Your orders will be carried out sire." With that the false genin picked up the Uchiha and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Orochimaru waited until his subordinate was gone before vanishing back into the shadow of the trees.

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Ino stood in the shadow of the stairway watching her father tend the shop. She was sure he knew she was there, but this was their ritual. When something was bothering her she'd hide on the stairs until she figured out how to talk to her father. Her father always knew she was there, but he let her decide when she was ready to talk. It was one of her favorite things about this ritual. The silent support it proved her father gave her. Finally with a bracing breath the Yamanaka heiress stepped out of the shadow and into the full light of her parents shop. As soon as she did her father put down what he was working on and headed to incubation room while her mother smoothly took over where her father had left off.

When the two mind walkers were safely somewhere private Ino asked her question, "Daddy, do you-, do you think I'm weak?"

Inoichi's head jerked a bit in surprise, "What brought this on?"

The girl looked down in shame, "My preliminary fight with Sakura. I can't prove it, but I'm sure she threw the match. And what's worse is that from the arena floor, it was really easy to see how hard a time she was having holding back to my level. Like there was one time when she should have landed a knock out blow on me and she held back the force, or even the way she had the fight end. She subtly set up everything so that it would be almost impossible for me to lose."

"I have no idea why, but Sakura let me win that match. It wasn't easy for her to hold back as much as she needed to, and that's why I'm wondering if I'm weak. She shouldn't have had such a hard time holding back. We've been ninja about the same amount of time and we were always pretty equal rivals in the academy. But now, daddy I'm scared that she may be way stronger than me now. Do you think that's possible?"

Inoichi blew out a thoughtful breath, "Do you want the true answer that will hurt, or the less true one that will make you feel better?"

Ino's shoulders slumped, "So I am weak."

The Yamanaka head frowned, "I didn't say that, and you should never assume that something merely implied is true. The greatest lies are formed by manipulating the assumptions of others. So which answer would you like?"

The young heiress curled in on herself, "The painful one."

Inochi sighed, "Well then munchkin, I'd have to say that, yes, you are weak. But you have potential. You have so much potential, but you squander it by wasting your time chasing after boys or spending hours to get yourself looking just so. You also diet and that makes it impossible for you to have the energy you need to train as hard as you should. So, you have a lot of potential, but you are doing everything you can to limit it. So you are weak, but you can be strong."

At the beginning of hers father's answer Ino was staring at the ground and crying, but when he finished she looked up and there was hope and determination shining in her eyes, "I want to be strong daddy. Will you help me?"

The man smiled at his daughter, "Sure munchkin. But don't expect it to be easy."

Ino shook her head, "I won't. Don't worry daddy I'll do what it takes to be the best."

Inoichi smiled, "I hope you will. Well to start off I want you to go inside and eat everything your mother outs on your plate. Then you'll run a lap around Konoha, and after that I expect you to do 100 pushups and squats." by this time time Ino was pale but her father wasn't done yet, "After you finish your warmups we'll get to the real work."

"W-w-warmups? That's just warmups?" the heiress stuttered.

The clan head smirked, "Yep and if you don't get started you won't be ready to start your training before this evening." Ino yelped and rushed inside to eat her breakfast, leaving a smiling father behind, 'Finally,' the man thought then followed his daughter inside.

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.

Sakura was ecstatic. She had spent the all of yesterday in the ANBU library, thank goodness for Ibiki-sensei, learning everything she could about the basic theory behind chakra strings and she thought that maybe her idea would work, but she'd need some very special help to pull it off. She rounded the bend it the forest path that took her right into Team Eight's training ground. Where she found all of Team Eight.

Shino was off to the side working personally with his sensei, which made sense since he was the only one on his team to make it into the third round. Kiba was working with Akamaru on something and Hinata was over by the training logs pound on them with her jyuuken.

Sakura just stood and watched Hinata train for a minute, she was really quite impressive. Why did everyone call her weak. She forced herself into action, when Kiba gave her a strange look, and walked over to Hinata, "Hinata-san?" Sakura asked, "Could, um, I talk to you for a minute?"

Hinata stared at Sakura in surprise for a minute than a a pause said, "S-sure Sakkkura. What's up?"

The Haruno smiled, "Well I had this idea for a medical technique that I _think _might revolutionize medical ninjutsu, but I can't make it real without your help."

The heiress stepped back, "Mmmy help! W-why dddo you need m-me?"

The pink-haired girl bit her lip, "Well I heard about the move you did in your fight with Lee, and I think it could be a first step in what I want to accomplish. You see, I want to combine the ability to manipulate chakra and other things without cutting open the skin, with the range that chakra strings give a person. Your technique is very similar to that. I thought that maybe if we worked on this together we might be able to get to the point where we could do non-invasive surgery, like stopping serious internal bleeding without having to open a person up. But I need your help Hinata I can't do it alone. So, will you help me?"

The Hyuuga just stared at Sakura for a minute then said, "Okkkay, w-when do you want ttttto sstart?"

The Haruno grinned, "Is now good?" At Hinata's nod the two girls stat is the grass and Sakura started explaining what she had been able to come up with so far, with Hinata occasionally breaking in to give some insight. The two girls very happily spent the rest of the day in this pursuit.

.

.

**One day after Sasuke receives the curse seal**

Sasuke awoke with a groan of pain. What had that crazy jonin hit him with? He shakily sat up and went to splash some cold water on his face, hoping that would help get rid of his grogginess. After he had splashed water on his face he blankly looked into the mirror, and stared. His Sharingan was active and spinning with one tomoe in one eye and two in the other. In shock he leaned closer to the mirror and stared, then smirked, it appeared whatever that crazy jonin had done had at least been of some use. Then his smirk fell away in a wave of dizziness as he looked around, truly seeing things with his birthright ocular powers.

It was like everything had two layers, what was obvious to any eye and what lay hidden beneath, its true nature. He waved his hand and felt dizzy as he saw several images of it blurring along a line. Time seemed to slow, and he saw a thousand ways that hand could move, which ones would be most natural, therefore the swiftest with the most power, drawing upon the geometric forces applied by muscle and sinew in his arm and shoulder. With mounting awe he realized that if so many possibilities lay open just from waving his arm, what would he learn from using this ocular jutsu to watch other shinobi in their attacks?

The Uchiha heard the door open and spun around while going into a defensive position. What he saw was that silver-haired genin from the first test. That genin introduced himself as Kabuto and explained that he was a research assistant to the jonin that Sasuke had met. Then the silver-haired genin proceeded to tell Sasuke all about the curse seal he had received.

.

.

Sasuke was carefully stalking his prey. After Kabuto had explained the curse seal to him Sasuke had spent the remainder of the day practicing controlling it. Now with a bit of control over his seal and the ability to activate his new Sharingan at will, he was ready to test his skills against another opponent. This time though, he'd start with someone easier. So here he was stalking Shikamaru through the forest and getting ready to show that weakling what true strength was.

Shikamaru stopped in a training ground with a sigh, "Will whoever is following me leave or come out already?"

Never one to disappoint Sasuke immediately threw a brace of shuriken at the Nara and followed that attack with a forward leap, sweeping a kunai in a downward vertical slice. Displaying shocking speed and timing Shikamaru leaned away from the shuriken and ducked the kunai strike, but he momentarily froze in surprise as he finally got a good look at his attacker, "Sasuke? What the heck are you doing?"

"I'm becoming a chunin." the Uchiha growled as he fished the handsigns necessary for the Grand fireball jutsu and let it loose.

Shikamaru quickly dodged out of the way and came up with a plan to subdue his very weird agemate, "What? How does attacking _me _give you chunin status?"

Sasuke paused in his assault, "A chunin has to be strong. If can prove my strength by beating everyone who made it into the preliminaries. Then the Hokage will have no choice but to elevate my rank and take me away from that lazy sensei that couldn't care less about training his students!" With his speech finished the Uchiha tried to pull up the hand holding his kunai to throw it, but his hand wouldn't budge.

"Kagemane jutsu, success." Shikamaru frowned at his captive, "You wouldn't have been made a chunin even if you did beat all of us. Being a chunin has much more to do with being smart and obeying orders than it does with how strong you are. Even if strength was all it took to make chunin, you're clearly not there yet if you let yourself get beaten by your own monologue."

The Uchiha gave a yell and black markings started to crawl across his skin, "You haven't beaten me yet!" Sasuke forced his arm to move and though it only moved a fraction he succeeded.

Shikamaru watched in shock as the black marks crawled across his foe's face and purple chakra began to push out of the Uchiha, and when the shadow user felt his technique begin to be overwhelmed he released his jutsu. The Nara knew he could take the Sasuke he had known in the past, but now his old classmate had an ability unlike any Shikamaru had ever seen. In this situation the best thing to do would be to retreat and tell Hokage-sama. With this in mind the Nara pulled out a seal he had just perfected for the finals and sent the chakra necessary into it, "Shadow explosion." he muttered and the seal released a dark wave of shadow over the training ground, and enveloping both combatants. This shadow had been precisely calculated to last for a few minutes during the brightest part of the day. In this light it should last for three five minutes at least.

As soon as the seal unleashed Shikamaru hightailed it out of the training ground to tell the Sandaime what had happened. Behind him he could hear a scream of outrage as his jutsu finally dissipated.

It didn't take long for the Nara to reach the Hokage Tower, but it did take several hours for Shikamaru to be granted an audience with his commander. When He finally got in to see the Hokage he quickly explained to the Third what had happened with Sasuke. How he had originally planned on capturing the Uchiha and bringing him here, the emergence of a strange seal convinced Shika that it would be better to retreat and report the incident.

With some concern Hiruzen asked the Nara to describe the seal he had seen. When the boy was finished the Hokage shot to his feet and called for ANBU, but before anything else could happen, the doors burst open and a rather unhappy Naruto walked in with Sasuke tied up and thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and coldly said, "Hokage-sama. Uchiha decided it would be a good idea to attack me, I have no idea why, and he pulled out a seal that I've never seen before. Also he's activated his Sharingan. What do you want me to do with him?"

Sarutobi sighed, "Hand him over to ANBU, Naruto, then both you and Shikamaru are free to go." Naruto gave a picture perfect salute as he dropped Sasuke on the floor in spite of the ANBU that was standing waiting to take the boy. As soon as that was done the Uzumaki turned and walked out. The Nara saluted and followed after his teammate, calling for him to wait up. Shikamaru caught up to his friend outside the Hokage's office, "Hey, do you want to go get something to eat, and maybe play a prank?"

The Uzumaki grinned, "Heck yes!" With that the two teammate's went off to cause some anonymous trouble.

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.

Back in the Hokage's office Sarutobi stared at Sasuke and sighed, "What am I going to do with you? I give you a fair punishment for breaking orders and instead of accepting it as you should, you go out and attack allies in the name of being promoted, and worse you use a curse seal to do it? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

The Uchiha glowered, "I was just trying to become a chunin. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be promoted."

The Third frowned, "While it's true there's nothing wrong with wanting to be promoted, the actions you took to accomplish that goal were entirely illegal. You attacked not one but two comrades without their consent . . . that could be seen as treason. You also used the curse seal which is an entirely forbidden seal."

Sasuke looked a little abashed, "I wasn't trying to commit treason, but what's so bad about a seal?"

Hiruzen's eyes were like flint, "That seal was created by an S-ranked Konoha nuke-nin and is known to cause insanity. Now you will tell me exactly how you got that thing."

The Uchiha gave a little gulp and quickly told all that had transpired with the strange ninja and Kabuto.

After this report was done the Third ordered his ANBU to bind Sasuke.

"What?" the genin shouted, "Why?"

Sarutobi sorrowfully looked at the boy, "You broke several laws and in the process received a very dangerous seal. As long as that curse mark is unsealed it makes you a security risk, therefore you will be taken and held in the ANBU cells with your chakra suppressed until such a time as our best seal master can come in and seal the wretched thing away."

"Noo! Punish me in some other way, but don't take away my power!" Sasuke pleaded.

The Sandaime just shook his head and gestured for his ANBU to take the boy away, "Owl." he called.

The last ANBU stayed back, "Yes Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen's face showed every second of his age in sadness as he wrote out a mission scroll, "Take this to Inoichi. I think Sasuke should have his psychological evaluation redone."

Owl saluted and disappeared to complete his mission. Leaving Sarutobi behind staring at his desk in sadness. He was getting too old for this.

.

.

The next day Sakura and Hinata were still hard at work on their new jutsu when Sakura stopped to ask, "Hey Hinata? Feel free to not answer this if you don't want to, but why do you stutter?"

The heiress looked down in shame, "I dddon't know. M-my family ssays itttts bbecause I'mmm wweak." she paused to rest, "Bbut I can't help ittt."

The Haruno bit her lip in thought, "Did you ever consider that maybe you just have a stuttering problem? It's not you fault, and it certainly doesn't make you weak. You just have a harder time saying what you need to."

Hinata looked surprised, "Bbbbut if itt is med-di-di-cal. Wh-why wwwould mmmy my fffamily tttre-treat me likkke th-they dddo?"

Sakura shrugged, "Because they're idiots? Don't worry about what they say Hinata. You're not weak, you proved that when you stood toe to toe with Lee, who regularly spars with Neji, and again when you created your own jutsu." Hinata was looking down with a thoughtful frown on her face. So the Haruno said, "So with the chakra strings you want to imagine they're like really stiff wire reaching out into the distance?"

The Hyuuga looked up, "Yes. Tttry to ddddo ththe jjutsu again."

Sakura smiled and focused on moulding her chakra, when she once again failed to complete the jutsu she sighed, "I have a feeling this is going to take awhile."

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.

Naruto sat by the pond in training ground two, half-heartedly throwing in pebbles and watching the ripples they made. It had been two days ago that Naruto had gotten Danzo's offer to join, and after careful thought the boy couldn't say he didn't agree with the councilman's ideals. That realized, he was here in this clearing throwing rocks into the pond like Danzo had told him to do if he ever needed to see the man.

"Naruto?" Danzo said, "Did you want help with getting ready for the third chunin exam test?"

The blond looked up to where his friend was standing and quickly stood as well, "No I'm ready for the rest of the exam. I came here to accept your offer. I'll join Root and train to be your successor."

The councilman smiled, "I'm pleased to hear that. However I want you to be sure, you know that if you accept this offer you can never be Hokage. I understand that was a dream of yours."

The Uzumaki nodded, "It was, but I've come to realize how much manipulation a Kage has to allow himself to do, and I don't ever want to be like that."

The cripple's smile got bigger, "I'm glad you've decided to join me Naruto. I'm sure you will be remarkable. Now we should probably go and inform Hiruzen of your decision."

Naruto's nose wrinkled in distaste, but he reluctantly agreed and the two headed for the Hokage tower.

.

.

Hiruzen's week had been purgatorial. What with Orochimaru finding the team of ANBU tailing him and killing two-thirds of it, then Sasuke getting tricked into not only receiving a curse seal, but liberally using it. He was pulled out of his rather dark thought's by his secretary, Mina, knocking on his door, "Sorry to intrude Hokage-sama, but Naruto-kun and Danzo are asking to see you. Is this a good time?", The woman asked.

Sarutobi frowned, he could not think of any way Naruto and Danzo being together could herald good news. With a sigh he said, "Now is as good a time as any, let them in." Mina smiled and went to get them.

Naruto came in first and gave a bow that gave just the right amount of respect to not be impertinent. Danzo did not bow at all. The Third pasted a smile on his face, "This is a surprise. What can I do for you?"

It was the genin who spoke, "Band-aid's offered to be my instructor if I get promoted to chunin, and I can't think of a better instructor to get me to jonin."

The blood froze in Hiruzen's veins, "I'm assuming Band-aid is Danzo?" At the blond's nod the Sandaime felt a fear he rarely let himself feel. That fear quickly turned to anger as he saw his rival's smug expression, "That's certainly very interesting Naruto." Sarutobi said in a falsely calm voice, "Would you please wait outside while I speak to my old friend." With a puzzled look the boy shrugged and walked out, as soon as the door shut behind him the Third brought a powerful glare to bear on Danzo, "I told you years ago that Naruto was off limits. How dare you go against me in this!"

The councilman gave a mocking laugh, "Years ago you had the power to stop me, now you don't."

Hiruzen stood and braced his hands on his desk as he said in an icy tone, "Do not overestimate your worth Danzo. _I _am still Hokage and as long as I hold this position my will will be followed."

"Yes," the cripple said, "you are still Hokage and as such _most _of the ninja follow your lead. But a good 80 percent of Konoha's merchants follow mine. You word is no longer the only law around here, and I'd love to see how you'd manage to rule Konoha without an economy. Or did you forget that our ninja are only a portion of what keep our village strong?"

The Sandaime stiffened, "I haven't forgotten, but you wouldn't dare destroy Konoha over one boy."

Danzo condescendingly shook his head, "No my old friend you wouldn't dare. I'm the evil one, remember? You have no idea what I would do, and you care far too much about this village to risk it for the sake of one person, no matter how precious."

"You will not have Naruto!" Hiruzen shouted as he stepped out from behind his desk.

The councilman smirked, "Careful, _Hokage-sama. _You wouldn't want to cause a scandal by attacking one of your councilors. As for Naruto, I will have him and I challenge you to try and find a way to stop me that won't risk your _precious _Konoha." With that the cripple turned and started to make his way out of the office.

"Danzo." Sarutobi had never sounded more forbidding, and the councilman turned back to the Third, "You will tell Naruto that he will not have my permission to be your student until the paperwork has been approved at every level, including the permission of his current sensei."

The cripple's face still showed no doubt as to his victory, "As you wish, my old friend."

As soon as Danzo had cleared his office Hiruzen called an ANBU to bring Ibiki to him within the next half hour or there would be hell to pay. The frightened ANBU was very quick with his mission.


	25. actual chapter 25 enjoy :

A/N First I'd like to start out by giving two apologies, first, sorry this is so late, I know I promised to have it out in the first part of July and now it's more like the middle. Also this chapter was getting so long I had to cut it in half, but the second half is almost done and will be out in about two weeks. I'd also like to say thank you for the reviews, my review goal for this story was 500 and I am now at 501. So thank you to eveyone who reviewed and helped me keep this goal. I hope you all will keep writting me reviews though, they let me know that my story is still entertaining. :)

Chapter 25 – One Month part 3

Jiraiya was scowling as he made his way to the Hokage's office; this summons couldn't have come at a worse time. He was having all sorts of success with his spying and now his sensei wanted him back in Konoha. The sanin shoved open the door to the office and took a deep breath to give his rant a good start. That rant died as soon as he laid eyes on his old sensei, "Holy crap, sensei, you look like you're half dead, and really ticked. Are you okay?"

"At my age I'm sure I'm much farther along than just half dead. It's always a pleasure Jiraiya." the Third said sardonically, "Have a seat, you're just in time for Inoichi's summary of his psychiatric evaluation on Uchiha Sasuke."

The sanin willingly plopped himself down in a chair across from his sensei and then both kage level ninja turned their attention to the only jonin in the room. Inoichi took the attention in stride as he said, "Sasuke is sane, from a certain point of view, but I strongly believe he suffers from an Antisocial Personality Disorder, most likely caused by his experiences on the night of his clan's massacre. But-" Inoichi paused in thought.

"But-" the Sandaime repeated expectantly.

The Yamanaka looked up, "Well, it's difficult to say for sure, but I think Sasuke might fall into a very dangerous subgroup of APD, and if he falls into this subgroup then he was most likely born with this disorder. The clan massacre may have exacerbated it, but not brought it into being.

"And this subgroup would be?" Jiraiya asked.

Inoichi's brow puckered in frustration. "Let me see if I can explain, you see everyone is born with a gene called the MAOA gene, and this gene encodes the enzyme that metabolizes norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. Recent studies have shown that individuals with low activity in the MAOA gene are more likely to be psychopathic. I checked the activity levels in Sasuke's MAOA gene, and it was subnormal. Which means he might be a psychopath."

Hiruzen sighed sadly, "What does that mean for Sasuke?"

Inoichi hesitated, "It's not good Hokage-sama. If my diagnosis is right, than Sasuke is incapable of feeling guilt. As long as what he does benefits him, he'll see it as the right thing. I don't even know if Sasuke can be treated for this. But I strongly suggest that he be retired as a ninja. Psychopaths are extremely prone to being sadistic, and allowing him to remain a ninja could very easily cause him to become a criminal psychopath. It may already be too late. In his own mind he killed Gato and according to Kakashi he showed none of the normal markers a genin shows on making their first kill."

"Honestly all I can say is retire him from ninja life, permanently seal away his chakra and the curse seal, and set him up with a really good therapist that knows he's a psychopath. Then keep a close eye on him and hope he doesn't develop any of the malevolent traits psychopaths are know for." Inoichi hesitated. "I must stress that he's not guaranteed to become a liability. Like children, psychopaths must be showed immediate consequences to all their actions, rewarded for good actions and punished for bad ones. They're purely narcissistic, so they must be shown it's in their own best interest to stay in line."

Sarutobi released a breath of air as he clasped his hands together over his mouth. He spent several minutes just thinking then looked to Jiraiya, "Seal away his chakra as well as the curse seal, and affix a seal to him that will let us know if he tries to leave Konoha." He turned to the Yamanaka, "Inoichi I assume you have someone in mind to be the boy's therapist?"

The blond man nodded, "Yes I do. My cousin has experience working with psychopaths and should be able to do a good job."

The Third nodded, "Good. Inform him of his new mission he will be in charge of all medical matters that pertain to Sasuke." Hiruzen stood, "Come Jiraiya, I will inform Sasuke of what has been decided, and you will do your job."

The sanin stood as well, and the three men dispersed to do their duties.

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Ibiki yawned as he made his way back to his office, it was sad that only a few days ago he'd been looking forward to a much deserved vacation. Since now he was nearly as busy as normal and none of it was with the enemy, stinking genin. Yesterday he'd plotted with Hokage-sama the best way to get Naruto away from Danzo and today he'd had to help his leader deal with the Uchiha, poor kid. He really hoped he could at least have a bit of time to himself in his office.

The T&I head's hopes were dashed as he saw Naruto sitting in front of his door. Then again, he did need to start working on the whole keep his student out of the clutches of an evil mastermind and now was as good a time as any, "Hey Naruto, what's up?"

The blond looked up and grinned, "Hey sensei! I found a teacher for when I become chunin but I need you to sign off on your approval."

The jonin frowned, "Let's head into my office." Naruto shrugged and followed the man in and as soon as they were both seated Ibiki continued, "Now, why don't you tell about this person."

"It's the councilman Danzo." the blond said, "As head of ANBU information you should know more than enough to know he'd make a good teacher."

The Sadist nodded, "It's true that I do know a lot about him. Why him?"

The blond looked thoughtful, "Well, he did compete against Hokage-sama for the position of Sandaime, and you can't do that unless you're strong. Plus he's well connected and I'll need all the political support I can get if I want to achieve my dream. All in all, he's a logical choice."

"Hmmm, and what do your instincts tell you?" Ibiki asked.

Naruto's face blanked, "I don't listen to my instincts. They're unreliable."

The jonin frowned, "That's unfortunate. Instinct's are important, they help you know what to do when logic fails." the Uzumaki quirked a disbelieving brow so Ibiki continued, "It's true, if I believed everything my prisoners told me I wouldn't be a very good interrogator. While it's true that I can usually use my eyes and all the other tool's I've been taught to sift out the lies; sometimes I get a really skilled liar, and none of my tools work. That's when I start trusting my gut, and you know? It's rarely wrong."

The blond looked envious, "Well your lucky to have a well trained gut. I'm not."

The Sadist Shook his head, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. It's often the kids with the hardest lives that have the best instinct. For them being able to trust their gut is a matter of survival, and it was for you too. So the instincts are there. So, I want to know, disregarding logic entirely, what does your gut tell you about Danzo?"

The genin paused, "That he's full of it, and to him I'm only a tool." Ibiki's smile of triumph seemed to goad Naruto into continuing, "But my instinct also said that you were trustworthy, and within a few months of meeting you, you had me tortured."

The jonin's smile fell away, "Point. But in my defense it was something that your entire class needed to learn and you and your teammate's were the only one's of your year who could survive it without going nuts."

The Uzumaki snorted, "Right, and that's supposed to make me feel better?"

Ibiki frowned, "Maybe not, but you're going to need to learn that no one is entirely altruistic, and while someone might occasionally do something for you just out of the kindness of their hearts. We all have things we're trying to achieve, including you. Do you honestly expect everyone to pass everything their planning by you. Do you think you're that important."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, "Well no, but it would be nice if people clued me in on my own life."

The Sadist gave a disappointed sigh, "You're a smart kid Naruto. In a few years I'd say you'll be even with Konoha's greatest spies and interrogators, but sometimes I forget how much you still have to learn about the world. I'm not gonna sign off on your sensei transfer just yet. I want you to remember that while logic is necessary, you need instinct too. Logic can be twisted by leaving out fact's or slightly altering them. You know that, I _taught_ you that. That's why instinct is so important it tells when logic is twisted. Think about what I've said today Naruto, and _apply _it to Danzo. If you still want me to sign off after that I will."

The blond did not look happy, but he did reluctantly agree to do as his sensei had said, and the boy quickly left Ibiki's office after that.

The jonin watched his student go and couldn't help but feel like that entire conversation had gone in one ear and out the other, he was beginning to understand why Inoichi always complained about being a parent. With a sigh he leaned back in his chair and tried to think of a better way he could reach Naruto. Like a clear mist the idea came to him and he almost dismissed it without thought it was so small. However, after a short preview of the idea he shot up in his chair. It was prefect! The man ran out of his office he needed to tell the Hokage about this... this _inspired _idea quickly.

.

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Hiruzen didn't know whether to expect good news or bad news when Ibiki came to see him, but on hearing his T&I head's plan, he smiled, "An excellent idea. Get it done."

The jonin saluted to his Kage and hurried out to find Naruto and give him his newest mission.

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Naruto was sitting at Ichiraku's half-heartedly slurping up his ramen while Ayame looked on in concern. It wasn't like her favorite costumer to eat ramen so... not like himself. With a frown the girl set aside the rag she'd been wiping the counters down with and focused on the boy, "Is everything alright Naruto? Much as it surprises me to say this, you don't seem to have much of an appetite for ramen."

The genin looked up, "Hmm? Oh I'm fine Ayame-chan, just thinking trough an assignment my sensei gave me."

The girl furrowed her brow, "Well, would you like to run it by me? Maybe I can help."

The blond looked thoughtful but then shook his head, "Sorry Nee-chan, but it's got a lot to do with ninja stuff, and, well, you're a civilian."

Ayame nodded in understanding, "All right, well if you ever do want to talk about something, You know you can come by and talk to me, right?" Naruto smiled and nodded. With a grin the girl carefully pushed the boy's ramen bowl closer to him, "Good, now eat all this up before I start thinking you like my fathers ramen more than mine."

The blond stared at the waitress with wide eyes, "You made this nee-chan?" at her nod he continued in a shout, "Wow! I couldn't even tell the difference. You're awesome nee-chan!" With that Naruto lifted up the bowl and started inhaling the ramen with his usual gusto. Ayame smiled at his returned enthusiasm.

It was as the genin was slurping down his third bowl of ramen that Ayame got a new customer, a jonin that she greeted warmly and asked what he'd like and he ordered a pork ramen. Ayame glanced at Naruto to see if he'd need a new bowl, but he had stopped eating and was sitting very stiffly. Ayame saw the jonin sit down next to her favorite customer and greet him. The girl watched with concern as Naruto's greeting was less than enthused, but at a rather pointed glance from the jonin she turned around to serve up the pork ramen, but made sure to keep a close ear in the conversation taking place behind her.

"Please tell me you're just here for the ramen Ibiki-sensei.", Naruto said.

The jonin shook his head, "While Ichiraku's does have the best ramen in town, I'm here to talk to you."

The blond sighed, "If it's about what we were talking about this morning, I haven't decided yet."

"No, I know you'll need more time to think about that," Ibiki leaned back to let Ayame put his ramen in front of him and took a bite, "I'm here because Hokage-sama has a new mission for you."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "Really? But I'm already on a mission, am I allowed to do two missions at one time?"

The jonin nodded, "In this case yes. You can do your new mission without interfering with your old one. Especially since this mission is solo."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, "What? I've never had a solo mission before, why now?"

Ibiki shrugged, "This mission doesn't need three people, and, while either of your two teammate's would do fine, you're particularly qualified for this mission."

Naruto nodded, "Alright, what's my mission?"

The jonin pulled out a scroll, "This is too public a place to discuss it, but all the details are in here. Your mission starts tomorrow so you'd better start preparing."

The took the scroll with a sigh and paid for his ramen, "Hai sensei." He turned to Ayame, "Thanks for the ramen nee-chan, it was great!" Then Naruto hurried out to find out just what he'd be doing.

Ayame watched Ibiki finish off his own bowl of ramen and pay with a polite smile. Then vanish before her eyes. The girl huffed, couldn't ninja leave like normal people?

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The next day Naruto sighed as he lay in the upper branches of one of the academy playground trees. He was once again perusing his new mission scroll and was not very happy about it. He had been assigned to pick one academy student and turn their loyalties from the Hokage by whatever means he thought necessary, his only limitation was that he had to make sure that this mission didn't actually harm Konoha. The blond snorted, as if he'd do anything to harm his home.

After he had read the mission he'd gone to ask Ibiki-sensei why they were doing something like this and he'd said it was to make sure that the academy students took being ninja seriously, and also so that they could learn how easy it is for a skilled manipulator to cause you to hurt your home. It was an important lesson to learn, but he still remembered how hard it had been to be the object in an object lesson. He really didn't want to force that onto someone else.

Naruto heard the recess bell ring and looked up to see the first year academy students come pouring out onto the playground. He'd already looked at the kids for the other three years and hadn't yet decided on who he wanted to pick, although he did have a few very good options. He had wanted to pick a class bully for this unfortunate assignment, but he knew that the lesson would be better driven into the other kids skulls if he picked one of the strong, respected members of the various classes. One of those poor kids was about to become victims of their own success, but if he taught the lesson well this time none of these academy students would have to go through something like this again.

He looked over the first year students to decide who looked the most influential when he spied Konohamaru. The blond quirked an eyebrow, that little brat was in the academy? Naruto smiled, this mission just got a little easier. He'd known Konohamaru since the kid was born and what better way was there to drive the lesson home than by turning the old man's own grandson against him. The fact that he'd gat a little revenge on the old man was also a plus. He wrote down Konohamaru's name and then jumped down from the tree. He needed to tell Ibiki-sensei who he'd chosen and then get to work on snaring him.

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Konohamaru was frustrated. He'd been trying to hit that blasted bulls eye for almost an hour now and still no luck. With his hope waning he threw one last kunai, and hit the edge of the training log. "Dangit!" the boy shouted, "Why can't I hit it!"

"You're holding the kunai wrong." Konohamaru turned to see who had said that with a glare on his face. His eyes widened, however, when he saw Naruto. The blond spoke again, "You're holding the kunai too close to the blade, that throws off your aim.

Konohamaru's glare returned, "I don't need your help! I can do this on my own. What do you know about throwing things anyway?"

Naruto shrugged, pulled out a kunai, and expertly flicked it at the target. The kunai hit dead center and came out the other side. Konohamaru's eyes widened, "Whoa. How did you do that?"

The blond smirked, "Aside from a lot of practice? I listened to the good advice people gave me." Naruto looked at where his kunai had made a hole in the target, "Besides, I've been declared lethal with all but throwing weapons so these are all I'm allowed to have. Now do you want to accept my advice and actually hit the target, or do you want to keep practicing fruitlessly on your own?"

Konohamaru scrunched up his nose in distaste, "Well I guess if getting help will make me stronger... what do I have to do?"

They spent the next half hour with Konohamaru throwing kunai and Naruto carefully coaching him into throwing it right. Finally the young boy manged to hit the target four times in a row. "Yes!" The boy shouted while raising his arms, well his left one anyway; when he tried to raise his right arm he winced and let it drop back to his side. An action that did not go unnoticed by Naruto.

The blond grabbed the eight-year-olds right arm and pulled it to where he could see it better, "Why didn't you tell your arm was hurting? Over training can be just as destructive as no training at all."

The young boy wrinkled his nose, "I didn't think you'd bother to meet up with me again if I stopped."

Naruto shook his head, "Idiot. I told you I'd help you learn this and I never go back on my word. Well, not to allies anyway."

Konohamaru's grinned, "You would have come back and helped me?" at Naruto's nod the boy jumped into the air, "Awesome! That settles it, from this day on your my leader boss!"

The blond blinked in surprise, "Umm, Ok.

"Sweet!" the clearly hyperactive kid shouted, "Then I'll see you tomorrow boss!"

Naruto watched Konohamaru run off while shaking his head, "Well that was easy." He said aloud, now that first contact had been made and an apparently good start to friendship had been started, he could start to poison thoughts. The blond started to whistle happily as he made for Ichiraku's, it really hadn't taken long at all to get to Konohamaru. With things so far ahead of schedule he had time to take the rest of today off. A part of him worried that his target had opened up to a complete stranger so easily, and, although he didn't like to admit it, he could see why this mission was necessary. But still, a naïve kid sure made his mission easier.

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Hiruzen was busy working through the intel his ANBU had been able to gather on suspicious activity within the village, and trying to use that and the information from team psych to create a clearer picture of what the invasion would entail. He'd been at this for almost an hour and had manged to make some good guesses when his focus was broken by a knock on his door. He glanced up, reached out with his chakra and felt Jiraiya on the other side of the door. He called for him to enter. When the door was shut behind him the Third spoke, "So nice of you to finally join me. Please tell me you're not turning into Kakashi, after all, I called for you an hour ago."

The sanin had the decency to look sheepish, "Yeah sorry about that, I got distracted by my work."

"Right." the Sandaime said disbelievingly, "Well, try to keep your 'work' to your own time."

Jiraiya shrugged, "Well I can try. So, what did you call me here for sensei?"

Sarutobi sighed, "I have a very... delicate mission for you, and it's one that you must succeed in."

The sanin leaned forward in his seat, "Oh? Well I am your best ninja, not to mention there's no better at finesse. What will I be doing?"

"I need you to befriend Uzumaki Naruto, and give him training for the third phase of the chunin exam. Earn his trust if you can." Hiruzen said.

Jiraiya's eyebrow's shot up in surprise, "My delicate and super important mission is to earn the trust of a genin. Why?"

The Third frowned and folded his hands together on top of his desk, "Naruto wants Danzo to be his chunin instructor. I need you to show him that he has other options for getting excellent training. You're my best information specialist, I don't think I need to impress upon you how important it is that Naruto not fall into Danzo's hands, if he does the balance of power I've tried so hard to maintain will fall to pieces within a year, and I have no doubt that Danzo will take advantage of that shift to start another war."

The senin was for once completely serious as he said, "Don't worry sensei, I understand how important this is and I won't fail."

Hiruzen smiled, "Good then get to it." Jiraiya nodded and quickly left, it was time to work out a plan for winning the trust of a cagy brat.

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.

Papers scattered on the street as the civilian Sakura had bumped into apologized and bent to help her retrieve the notes.

"Oh no, don't trouble yourself." Sakura said, "I was the one who was paying more attention to my notes than where I was going." The genin gave a sweet smile as she looked up to study the person she bumped into. He was obviously a civilian around her age, and Sakura had to suppress an amused smile when the boy glanced up at her and blushed. "I'm Haruno Sakura. What's your name?"

The poor boy looked like a deer caught in the headlights, "I-I'm Kento."

After the last of the papers had been picked up Sakura stood and held her hand out to the civilian who, with another blush, put the papers he had manged to gather into Sakura's hand, the pink haired girl gave another smile, "Well it was a pleasure to meet you Kento, and I thank you for helping me pick up my notes. They are quite important."

Kento's face lit up in interest and he seemed to loose a bit of his nervousness as he asked, "Really? Are they for some super top secret mission or something?"

Sakura suppressed another amused smile, "I'm a little young for those kinds of missions. No, these are notes about a jutsu I and a friend are creating."

The boy's eye's widened in surprise, "You can do that? M-m-make jutsu I mean."

The genin quirked an eyebrow, "Of course, how else would a ninja make a name for themselves?" Kento shrugged and Sakura looked down at her watch when it started beeping, "Crap! I'm sorry Kento it really has been nice getting to know you, but I'm late for a meeting. Thanks again!" With that said Sakura rushed up the wall and onto a roof for speedier travel. Leaving a slightly stunned boy behind her.

"I just met a hot kunoichi. Sweet! New bragging rights!", The boy didn't really notice the strange looks he was getting from the other civilians, nor the highly amused looks from the one or two older kunoichi who were around to hear, he was too busy rushing off to his own meeting, well, with friends anyway.

A few hours later Sakura was on her way home with slumped shoulders and a generally dejected air around her. Her meeting with Hinata had really not gone all that well. This new jutsu they were working on was a killer and, while they were progressing, progress was slow. Most of the time it felt like they weren't accomplishing anything at all.

The pink haired girl let out a dejected sigh and kicked a pebble out of her way. Her kick was soon followed by someone shouting "OWW!", Sakura winced. What was it with here and hitting things today. She looked up to apologize but the words died on her lips when she saw a grinning Naruto in front of her.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he rushed to give her a hug, "How are you? I haven't seen you since the day of the preliminaries. Are you okay? How's thing's? What-"

Sakura was laughing as she covered her friends mouth with her hand to get him to stop, "First of all, I'm sorry for hitting you with a rock." she backed out of the hug to make sure the pebble hadn't caused any harm, then she continued, "As for your kinda redundant question's, I'm doing well, and have been enjoying my down time. It _has _been awhile since we've seen each other, and we really need to work on that cause I haven't seen Shika in forever either and that's just not okay for a team as close as ours."

The blond gave an emphatic nod, "Here, here! We need to set up a weekly team dinner or something, just so our busy lives don't pull us too far apart." Naruto's eyes lit up, "And hey! Speaking of dinner I was just on my way to get some. How 'bout we go together and catch up a bit?"

Sakura gave a soft smile, "That sounds like a good idea." her smile changed to a wicked smirk, "This kinda reminds me of the academy days, you asking me out to eat and me-"

"_Not_ threatening me with bodily harm if I didn't quit?" Naruto interrupted with a quirk of a blond brow.

The Haruno blushed, "Okay, so it is pretty different... So! Where do you want to eat? Ichiraku's I assume."

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Nah, I'll let you decide where we eat, after all it really has been awhile."

Sakura gave a teasing grin, "Wow! Your not demanding we eat ramen. Should I be asking 'who are you and what have you done with my friend'?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm not _that _bad. Now where do you want to eat I'm starved."

The Haruno hmmed, "How about that new ongiri place in east side?"

The blond deadpanned, "Seriously? A whole city of tasty food and you go for the least fatty place?" Naruto looked at his friend askance, "Do I need to set up a diet intervention?"

Sakura gave her friend a glare, "No. Now your the one who said you were hungry," the Haruno took off at a dead sprint, "race you there!"

"Cheater!" Naruto shouted as he tried to catch up.

A few minuets later two breathless genin skidded to a stop in front of the ongiri place. Sakura looking very smug for having won the impromptu race.

It was as the two genin where beginning to eat that Naruto restarted the conversation, "So what have you been up to in the last two weeks?"

Sakura paused in the action of taking a bite and then put her ongiri back down as she thought about whether she should tell Naruto about the new jutsu she and Hinata were working on, but in the end decided to wait until she had more to show. With that topic unavailable she was embarrassed to realize that she didn't really had anything really exciting to talk about. So she deflected, "Oh not much, but I heard both you and Shikamaru had a bit of an adventure with Sasuke. I really don't know if I should feel relieved or put out that Sasuke never got around to sparring with me."

Naruto looked confused, "You wanted to fight Sasuke?"

The Haruno stuck her tung out in disgust, "Heck no! I'm just a bit put out that Sasuke didn't consider me an equal threat to you and Shika."

The blond shrugged, "Well Sasuke always was a bit of an idiot."

Sakura gave Naruto a disbelieving look, "Yeah, because idiots are always first in their class at school."

The Uzumaki looked indignant, "That's not what I meant!" at his friends questioning look he explained, "When it comes to ninja stuff Sasuke's always been brilliant, hard working too, and no one can argue that. But, when it comes to people, I don't think I've ever met someone more out of the loop."

The Haruno nodded, "Yeah, it does seem like he's always relied on ninja life to keep him balanced and now he doesn't have that to fall back on. It's kinda sad."

Naruto looked confused, "What? Why wouldn't Sasuke have ninja life to fall back on?"

Sakura's eyes widened, "You mean you haven't heard?" at the blonds blank expression she continued, "Wow you really need to work on your Konoha contacts, everyone knows about what happened to Sasuke."

"Except me." Naruto said, "So will you tell me already."

The Haruno nodded, "According to Shika, after he reported Sasuke's attack on him the Third was in the process of calling an ANBU to bring Sasuke in when you saved him the trouble by bringing Sasuke in trussed up like a roast pig. Shika said Sandaime-sama wanted Sasuke to take a psych evaluation. I guess he failed, because the next day his ninja license was revoked and his Sharingan and chakra were sealed. He also appears to always have some kind of ninja babysitter following him around and enforcing his good behavior."

"At least, that's what I got from the one very brief time I ran into him. I didn't stick around long because the minuet Sasuke laid eyes on me he lunged at me and started shouting at me to tell him where you were, how you had ruined his life and he wouldn't rest until he had his revenge. He really seemed unhinged. Anyway it was at around that point in his rant that his babysitter knocked him out, apologized to me on Sasuke's behalf and whisked him away. Needless to say, I've tried to avoid Sasuke since then."

Naruto looked very troubled, "He blames me?"

Sakura nodded, "Apparently, but I wouldn't worry everyone knows it isn't your fault. After all it was Sasuke's own actions that led to the psych eval that he failed. He probably just blames you because you were the one who brought him to Hokage-sama. I'd bet a months pay that if an ANBU had taken him in it would be that ANBU at the center of Sasuke's blame."

The Uzumaki was still frowning, "That's true enough, but I still hate it when I'm blamed for things when I'm innocent."

The Haruno gave Naruto a sympathetic look and looped her arm through his. She decided the best way to pull her friend out of his gloomy thoughts was distraction, "Apparently Ino did something to majorly tick off Shika, quite a feat considering, and Shika decided to get revenge by tricking her into a date with Lee. Even though Lee's a really sweet guy, Ino still shudders when ever she sees certain shades of green, I hear she's planning a return prank, with any luck we'll get some pre-third exam entertainment."

Naruto cracked a smile, "Maybe I should give Ino some pointers, I always did love a good prank war."

Sakura smirked, "Or even better, we could just do the prank ourselves and then blame it on Ino and see what happens next." Naruto's eyes gleamed and he and Sakura spent the next few minutes tossing prank ideas back and forth. Then with a much lighter atmosphere, they moved on to other topics.

.

.

"HOT!" Konohamaru shouted as he flew out of the boiling hot spring.

Naruto laughed, "I think that's why it's called a hot spring."

The little boy glared at the blond, "You're having way too much fun torturing me."

The Uzumaki snorted, "My sensei is the head of the torture and interrogation department, be glad that the cruelest thing I'm doing to you is making you learn water walking on a very hot hot spring. Which, by the way, will help you learn this faster." at Konohamaru's grumbling Naruto added, "You don't have to do this. I'm just trying to help you get stronger like you wanted, but if you don't want to take my advice there are certainly other things I could be doing."

The boy's eye's widened, "No! I can do this, I want your help."

The blond smiled, "Good, then get to work. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll have water walking mastered."

Konohamaru still frowned as he got ready to go out onto the hot spring again, but he didn't let himself grumble.

Two hours later found Konohamaru still jumping out of the hot spring with a yelp. Only this time when his feet touched the ground he winced and fell forward onto his knees.

When Naruto saw this he frowned, "Konohamaru stop. Let me see your feet." The blond went over to his young friend and saw the mild burns on his feet. "Your feet are burned, granted it's mild but I should still get you to Sakura."

"NO!" Konohamaru shouted, "I haven't mastered water walking yet."

The Uzumaki sighed, "I'm sorry." at Konohamaru's confused look Naruto continued, "I should have realized this would happen. My entire team did learn water walking this way but neither Shikamaru or Sakura are powerhouses. They always stopped well before this and I heal quickly. The thought that repeated exposure to very hot water would cause burns didn't cross my mind. But now I know and I'm not letting you get back on that water until your feet have been healed and you've had a chance to rest. We might even switch these practices to a cool stream or something. So come on lets go see Sakura, she'll have you fixed up in no time."

"No!" Konohamaru was adamant, "I'm going to keep going until I have this mastered."

Naruto frowned, "No your not. The hot water will only aggravate your burns and make them worse." the blond paused and gave Konohamaru a searching look, "Why are you so determined to master this today? Your only eight years old and it's not like your lacking for time. Most kids don't learn this until they become genin."

Konohamaru snorted, "Yeah _most _don't learn it till their older, but when did you learn it?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "I figured it out when I was nine."

"You see," Konohamaru said, "You learned it when you were nine and I have even more important reasons then you do."

Naruto gave the rather naïve kid a disbelieving look before asking, "Then what are your reasons?"

Konohamaru shifted from kneeling to sitting cross legged on the grass, and then he picked a piece and started shredding it to avoid looking his boss in the eye, "My grandfather named me Konohamaru after Konoha, but no one calls me that. They all call me 'honorable grandson' or something like that. They all pretend to show me respect but they don't even see me. They only see the grandson of the Hokage."

"Whenever I look in their eyes it's like I came see the way they're plotting to try and get on my good side so that they'll have a better connection to the Hokage." the boy snorted in disgust, "I just- I want to get strong enough so that when they look at me they see _me _and not the 'honorable grandson' that they can use for a power play."

Naruto gave Konohamaru a penetrating stare and then let a small smile flash across his lips, "Well then I guess I'll just have to help you get there won't I?" The little brunette looked up at the blond with a hopeful grin until Naruto continued, "But you're not gonna get any stronger by working yourself to the point of injury. So we're done for today."

Konohamaru's smile fell into a pout and he tried to whine his way into being allowed to continue but Naruto would have none of it and eventually created two shadow clones to pick up the brunette and take him to Sakura for healing. The real Naruto stayed behind shaking his head in amusement before he too started to make his way away from the hot spring.

When Naruto came into view of the fence around the woman's hot spring though he frowned and called out, "Hey pervert! Why not give those poor women some privacy huh?"

There were shrieks, and shouts of outrage coming from behind the fence as the white haired man that Naruto now recognized as Jiraiya of the sanin whipped around and glared at him, but as soon as the pervert laid eyes on him another expression flickered across his face before it was replaced by an even firmer scowl. The sounds of angry women were getting closer so Jiraiya started to run, but paused by Naruto's side and said, "You little brat. I wish I could stick around and watch the beating that these women were going to give you when they come out and think you're the pervert, but alas if I stick around I'll be pummeled too so see yah!"

Jiraiya took off and Naruto stared after him in surprise. That man's statement had almost seemed like a warning, couched in animosity though it was. So too curious to walk away Naruto shouted, "Hey Ero-senin wait up!" then he took off after sanin

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.

Danzo sat in Ichiraku ramen sipping his tea while he waited for his food to cook. While he'd never tell Koharu or Homura, and certainly never Hiruzen, all the time he'd spent with Naruto had led to him developing a particular fondness for shrimp ramen. Of course he didn't indulge in eating it very often. After all it wouldn't do for people to find out that he liked such a simple dish. But today he had an excuse, Naruto was meeting him here to talk about his offer to join root. If all went well he would get more than a guilt free meal.

The cripple was just getting ready to take his first tasty bite when he heard a voice shout, "Hey Band-aid!" Danzo turned and gave Naruto a small smile.

"Hello Naruto," the man said, "How have these last two weeks been?"

The blond beamed, "They've been great! Oh you'll never guess what happened!"

Danzo quirked his visible eyebrow, "Do you actually want me to guess or should I just ask what?"

Naruto gave him a weird look, "Umm, 'what' I guess." the boy perked up and continued before Danzo had a chance to respond so the cripple went to take another sip of his tea, "But any way I met Jiraiya today and was able to convince him to give me some training during the next two weeks! I'm gonna get training from one of the sanin starting tomorrow! Isn't that great news?"

The cup that had been making its way up to Danzo's mouth paused, and the man let a brief frown cross his lips before turning to Naruto with a smile, "That's excellent news. I admit I can hardly believe it. Jiraiya has always seemed to be a bit of a loner to me. But, well I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. He is your godfather after all."

All the excited energy in Naruto stilled as he growled, "What?"

The cripple looked at Naruto in confusion, "You look surprised Naruto, but surely Hiruzen, or Jiraiya himself told you of this. After all, there's no reason for them to keep it from you now that you know about your father."

The blond's frown grew darker, "Maybe lying is a hard habit to break." He pushed away from the table, "I'm sorry to leave so quickly Band-aid, but I've gotta go."

Danzo's eye widened, "Already? You haven't even gotten a bowl of ramen yet."

Naruto sighed, "I know, and I'd like to stick around but I still have a few missions to complete and with my new training I won't have much time." the blond's voice lowered as he muttered, "If I _take _the training that is."

The cripple gave a sad nod, "Well I can certainly understand the pressure of missions, and while I'm sorry you can't stay longer, well, you are nearly a chunin. Good luck with all you need to do, and remember that I'm always here if you need help."

The blond gave Danzo a sad smile, "Thanks Band-aid." With that he hurried from the restaurant, and Danzo turned to take his first bite of shrimp ramen with a smile.

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.

The next day Naruto sat by the stream that flowed through training ground nine, and tried to stay focused on the leaf cutting exercise he was doing. He was here to meet Jiraiya, but he had lost all of his enthusiasm. The blond had spent the majority of last night pacing, trying to figure out what he should feel, do with the knowledge that Jiraiya was his godfather.

Jiraiya, was the man who was _supposed _to raise him and protect him from all the things children weren't yet capable of navigating on their own. But was instead the man he'd met by chance for the first time outside of a woman's bath house. The thought sent a stab of pain through his heart that was quickly echoed in his hand as he lost control of his wind chakra and cut his palm. With a yelp Naruto dropped the cut up leaf and held his bleeding hand with his other as he watched the cut heal.

He watched the skin seal over where the wound had been and he could feel something similar happening inside. As the fire of anger swept through his heart and burned out all the pain, leaving behind it a scorching indignation. He only wished that his heart could be as scarless as his now fully healed and unblemished hand.

He was pulled out of his thought's as Jiraiya appeared in an overly dramatic puff of smoke, "Hey brat! I hope you are ready to work your but off cause I've got a whole lot to..." Jiraiya trailed off as he got a good look at Naruto's face, "Hey are you all right kid?"

Naruto glared at the sanin, "Oh I'm fine. I just got some startling news yesterday and am still trying to process it."

Jiraiya quirked a brow, "And that news would be...?"

The blond frowned, "None of your business. Although, I think I will tell you, if only so you can answer a question I have. When were you going to tell me you were my godfather?"

The sanin's eyes widened in surprise, "Who told you that?"

"It doesn't matter. When were you going to tell me?" the boy pressed.

The man shrugged, "I don't know when I knew you better maybe, does it matter?"

Naruto gave a hollow laugh, "Does it matter? All this time I've been the godson of one of the strongest ninja alive and I spent my childhood getting food out of dumpsters because the store owners refused to sell to me. I was stuck in a rat infested, cockroach ridden apartment while my _godfather _is a bestselling novelist and an S-ranked ninja. I spent my childhood alone, ignored, wondering what disease I could possibly carrying that made everyonewant to stay away."

"And your asking if it matters? Well maybe _knowing _your my godfather wouldn't have been worth much. But you wanna know what would have mattered? Having you there in my life when I was almost completely alone. Maybe then I could have lived without wondering if some moldy piece of bread was going to be my last meal, lived without the fear that this next hate filled glare was a precursor to an attack. So tell me, if you would, where were you?"

"Where were you when I was going through hell? What could have possibly kept you from raising me like you promised you would when my parents died? Heck forget even raising me. Could you not be bothered to even shoot a bit of cash your godsons way so he wouldn't have to gain an intimate knowledge of what starvation felt like? "

Jiraiya's face paled in shock as he listened to what Naruto's life was like. But then the blond continued, "Were there just too many onsen to hit? Would a little kid have cramped your jet setting lifestyle? Did you even bother to find out if I was still alive after the Kyuubi attack, or did you just leave?"

The sanin's lips were pressed together hard enough for there to be a ring of white around them. Then the man spoke in a voice that was all the more striking for it's soft, restrained tone, "You little brat. How _dare _you assume so much about me and my honor with so little information. I thought you were one of the T&I prodigies, but I guess your still learning the value of good information. I loved your father, he was like a son to me and I would never disrespect his memory by failing to keep my most important promise to him. To look after his son."

"You want to know where I was? I was out traveling the world and making sure none of the other hidden villages found out the identity of Konoha's jinchuuriki, or that the Yondaime, one of the most terrifying ninja to ever exist, had a son. Who might have the potential his father had had. I confess it wasn't all that much of a hardship for me to travel the world. I prefer to be outside the village."

"I also admit that I had no idea your life was _that _bad back here, but everything I've done in the last twelve years has been for you, to keep you safe. Your life was... completely unacceptable and I won't deny that. But imagine how it would have been if you had assassins coming at you on a weekly basis trying to cut short your life before you could surpass your father, or kidnappers coming to steal you and you potential and forcing you to live and serve as nothing more than a weapon."

Naruto gave a bitter snort, "A weapon. Isn't that what I am here? With a father who made me into a monster to intimidate the other villages into being peaceful, and a leader who spent the first twelve years of my life lying to me and manipulating me so I'd only be loyal to him?"

"Silance!" Jiraiya shouted and then took a moment to calm himself down before continuing in the same steady voice as before, "You have no right to condemn their actions, and even less right to disrespect them. Those two men have done more to bring peace to this village than any of the rest of us combined, and _no one _has suffered greater personal loss for the sake of this village than those two."

"I don't know you and maybe if I had chosen a different path I might, heck things may have even been better, kidnapping and assassination attempts aside. But as it is, I don't know you, and I have no idea how loyal you are to this village. But if you are loyal to this village, if you love this village. Then, no matter how much it might hurt, you should be able to understand why those men did what they did. Because, it was all for Konoha."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he heard the sanin's words. Jiraiya turned away from the brat he didn't know, "If you chose to overlook what I _have _done for you these past twelve years, and focus instead on what I haven't. That's your choice, but you had better think long and hard about whether the people your hurting with your rapid fire judgments deserve it. I'm leaving for today, if you still want to train with me come find me." With that Jiraiya vanished and left a very stunned Naruto behind him.

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.

Naruto halfheartedly kicked an empty can out of his way as he wandered aimlessly down a Konoha side street. A thief saw him as a short little boy and an easy target, until he saw the headband and quickly melted away. The blond didn't notice his near miss. He really had no idea of his surroundings. All his thoughts were focused inward on what Jiraiya had said.

Awhile later he was pulled slightly from his thoughts by the noise of many people and he looked up to see he was in an ally that lead onto Konoha's main road he could see the road in front of him teaming with people, occasionally one of those people would see him and glare before turning away and pretending he didn't exist. Naruto tried to ignore the pang those dark looks gave him. Usually he could but with Jiraiya's words still ringing in his ears he kept seeing himself in every civilian that walked by with a glare.

How many times had he seen Iruka-sensei since their falling out? Did he act any differently toward Iruka than these people did towards him. With a thoughtful frown he turned away from the thoroughfare. He didn't want' to bother with people right now. His thought's once again held his mind captive as soon as he re-entered the shadows.

Naruto didn't know how much time had passed before he was once again pulled out of his thoughts, this time by a childish giggle. He looked around and realized he was on the path to the top of the hokage monument, in fact just around a bend and some trees and he'd be at the top. He came around that bend just in time to see Konohamaru throw a water balloon over the village. He watched the balloon as it fell and popped on the village below in a splatter of yellow paint.

"Hah!" Konohamaru crowed, "See if you guys can beat that!"

Naruto shook his head, "Konohamaru, what are you doing?"

The boy whipped around, "Boss! Oh this is perfect I was giving my friends Moegai and Udon a taste of what it was like to be your underling. We're pranking Konoha!" The other two children grinned as the Sarutobi picked up another balloon and threw it as hard as he could. They all watched it fly though the air before splatting, a few seconds later they heard some really loud cursing.

"As happy as I am to see you carrying on my pranking legacy," the blond said, "I doubt that was the first person you ticked off with your prank and it isn't going to be hard for them to figure out where the balloons are coming from." the three childrens eyes widened in alarm, "I suggest you get out of here quickly and take anything that might lead them to you."

The kids gave little gasps of alarm before they quickly vanished leaving the unused balloons behind them. Naruto smiled, shook his head, and then his eyes caught sight of the hokage tower that was in his throwing distance. He had a half-filled bucket of paint balloons and a target that really wanted to attack. He bent down and picked up a balloon filled with orange paint and raised his arm to throw it.

But then Jiraiya's words once again filtered through his head, '...if you really loved this village then you'd be able to see where they were coming from...', he thought back on all the people he thought had betrayed him over the last few months, Ibiki with his torture, jiji with his lies, and Iruka with his broken promises. Before they betrayed them he would have bet a months earning that they really cared about him, and he never lost a bet. So if they weren't doing it to hurt him, what were their motivations? And, more importantly, did they matter? Would he be willing to forgive them if he knew why? They had still all hurt and betrayed him, did they even deserve his forgiveness, regardless of why?

He lowered his arm and thought about the villagers and Sasuke, the villagers hated him for something completely out of his control, ever since he started this hurt and betrayal cycle it seemed like he was willing to push people away for smaller and smaller things, would he someday reach a point where he was like the villagers; having no one to blame so blaming it on someone who was innocent but _ might _be guilty? Then there was Sasuke, out of all the people he knew there was no one who more deserved to hate someone for their betrayal and he had hated, really really hated. That hate seemed to ruin his life, did he really want to follow in Sasuke's footsteps by hating those who had betrayed him? Naruto shuddered at the thought.

The blond looked down at the balloon in his hand then back up at the hokage tower, and he made a decision. He was still hurting, and he didn't know if he would ever trust those who had betrayed him again, but he'd forgive them and give them a chance. Naruto let the balloon fall from his hand as he turned away from the edge. He heard the splat as it hit the ground but he was busy thinking of how hard his new task would be, but he'd never failed at something he truly wanted before, and he wouldn't fail at this.


	26. Tensions Rising

A/N Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and as always, feel free to point out any flaws in my writing so I can work on them, and, if their bad enough, go back and fix them. Enjoy 26! :)

Chapter 26- Tensions rising

It was the night of the full moon and an ANBU sat on the pinnacle of a roof staring at the moon. He hated his life. He had had a nice easy job of gate duty and then he managed to tick of the head of ANBU, Dragon, and get himself assigned to night watch with a new mask. It hadn't taken long for him to realize this mask must have been dreamed up by a truly sick mind. Honestly, why would anyone, except the wearer, find a platypus mask scary?

He had been mocked so many times for this blasted piece of porcelain that it was clear it's purpose was to punish those stupid enough to tick off Dragon. He hadn't even meant to dye the mans hair pink!

Somewhere in the distance platypus heard a cry like a scream and shivered, he hated night watch and now it looked like there might be something 'interesting' happening. With a near silent sigh he stood up and carefully made his way toward the where the cry had come from. He hoped it wasn't anything too exciting, high action made him nervous. He froze when he heard two voices and then carefully made his way to where he could more clearly hear them, all while sticking to the shadows.

"Your weapon is impressive." An arrogant cultured voice said, "But I understand he's not entirely controllable. I hope that won't... cause problems with our plan?"

Another rougher voice answered, "It won't he'll listen well enough once he realizes how many lives he'll get to destroy. Suna will be ready, will Sound?"

Platypus stiffened, this sounded serious. With silence and great care the ANBU peaked out from where he was hiding to see who was speaking. His eyes widened when he saw the Suna sensei and the silver haired Kabuto that all ANBU were to keep an eye on. He had to have the worst luck, he wants to avoid anything exciting, and here he is finding out that not only is Suna planning on doing some plan that involves a weapon doing a lot of killing, but Sound will be joining them.

Platypus spun around, he needed to report this to the Hokage. As he finished his turn his foot came into contact with a pebble he hadn't seen and sent it skittering across the roof. With a near silent curse he took off running, there had to be somewhere around here that he could move with cover. He'd just managed to drop into an ally when Kabuto dropped down in front of him. He only had time to take a single step back before he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and the world went black.

Kabuto starred down at the corpse as he shook off his kunai. He paid particular attention to the ANBU gear, how convenient. He needed an ANBU uniform for the plan and here one falls into his lap. Of course it was a little bloody and would need to be cleaned up, but that was a small matter. With a pleased smile Kabuto took the gear and stored it into a sealing scroll for later. Objective complete he made his way back to his apartment. Orochimaru-sama would be very pleased with his progress.

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Konohamaru gave a tired yawn as he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the clock and frowned, stupid hunger getting him up so early. With an unhappy mumble the boy got out of bed and headed to the kitchen, if he hurried maybe he could find some food and sleep a little longer before his mom can to wake him up for school.

He gave another yawn as he rounded the corner into the hall that passed his grandpa's study, and paused in surprise. He could see light filtering out from underneath the study door. 'Weird,' the young boy thought, 'grandpa is never up this late he's too old to handle it.' With a curious gleam in his eyes the boy snuck toward the door and leaned in close enough to hear what was being said.

"This has gone on long enough." Konohamaru shivered, that was his grandpa and he sounded mad. The last time the old man had sounded this angry dad had had to re-landscape the back yard. He hoped that didn't happen this time. He leaned in closer as his grandpa started speaking again, "This is the third ANBU this month. We're already losing far too many people to this invasion and it hasn't yet started. Now I want-" The young boy tuned out the rest of his grandfather's statement to think, invasion? Was jiji planning to invade one of the other hidden villages? The boy's eyes widened and he gave a little gasp. All noise within the study quieted, a moment later the door was opened, and blinding light spilled into the hallway. The young boy blinked rapidly to try and help his eyes see who was silhouetted in the door. When he could see he saw his jiji standing there looking down at him with a frown, uh oh.

"Konohamaru? What are you doing out of bed?", Hiruzen's voice was less than pleased.

The boy scratched the back of his neck, "Well I was hungry so I thought I'd go to the kitchen and eat."

The Third's eyes softened a little, "Then go eat," the man's eye's hardened again, "and don't let me catch you listening in at my door again."

The young boy frantically nodded his head, "Yes Grandpa!" With that he took off running toward the kitchen and as he ran he heard the study door close behind him.

Konohamaru headed back down that hall with a full stomach and one again paused as he saw that there was still light coming out from underneath the study door. He was tempted to listen and see if he could learn anything more, but if he listened he'd probably get in trouble. He stood there for almost a minute trying to decide if it was worth it to listen in, but in the end he passed by the door and headed back to his bed without stopping. It would have been cool to learn more, but it so wasn't worth it to tick off his already angry grandfather.

As the boy got back into bed and tried to fall asleep he couldn't help but think about what he'd learned. Konoha was gonna invade another hidden village. He couldn't wait to tell the Boss!

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Konohamaru ran through the streets looking for Naruto. It was still early but he was determined to find the blond and tell him the super cool secret he had overheard. Ahead of him he finally spotted a blond guy in bright orange that had to be Naruto, no other self respecting person would wear that color orange. The Sarutobi put on an extra burst of speed, and when he was close enough grabbed Naruto's hand, "Boss! You'll never believe what I found out!"

The boy in orange turned around with a frown on his face, "Do I know you?"

Konohamaru felt him excitement falter as he looked up into the face of a boy who was _not _his boss. The Sarutobi laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry, from behind you look exactly like someone I know."

The other boy frowned, "Great, just great first I get glares and lousy service from the businesses and now I have brats ambushing me in the streets, Konoha sucks."

"You would probably find Konoha more welcoming if you changed your clothes." A new voice said.

Konohamaru turned to see who it was and grinned, "Boss!" he paused and looked between the two teenagers, "Wow you guys really look like each other."

The Konoha visitor looked at Naruto with suspicion, "Why would changing my clothes improve my stay?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Konoha shopkeepers don't like the color orange."

The other blond looked disbelieving before scowling and shaking his head, "This place is nuts." He kept muttering insults under his breath as stomped off.

"I was serious about the clothes!" Naruto shouted and then turned to Konohamaru, "So, what are you up to Ko?"

The Sarutobi was nearly bouncing in excitement, "You'll never believe what I found out Boss!" the boy looked around suspiciously, "But we shouldn't talk about it here. Come on!" Konohamaru led them to a more private place and then told Naruto everything that he had overheard the night before and what he thought it meant.

Naruto listened to his little friends information and felt sick, he knew that Konohamaru was mistaken and that he could easily set the kid straight. But listening to the kids conjectures gave him an idea for the perfect way to wrap up his mission, and he just knew he was gonna hate himself when all this was over.

The blond blew out a breath, "Wow, that's... some serious info Ko."

"I know!" the kid shouted, "What do you think I should do with it?"

Naruto's sick feeling got worse. This kid was trusting a twelve year old to give him advice on an apparently volatile state secret he shouldn't even have. It almost made him feel less guilty about what he was about to do. At least Ko would learn to be much more careful with the information he received. The blond sat down cross legged on the ground with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Keep in mind that this is just an idea, but, well you want to be hokage right?"

"Heck yes!" the boy shouted.

Naruto nodded, "Then I think you should tell this information to one of the stronger political factions. They like to fell important by knowing more that the other factions and if you told them something this big in exchange for their promised support in your eventual run for hokage, they might just give it to you."

The Sarutobi looked thoughtful, "You think so?"

"On yeah absolutely." the blond said, "If you want I'll see if I can't find out which political faction would be the best to give this to."

Konohamaru smiled, "Really? You're the best boss!"

The Uzumaki grinned, "Well I did promise I'd help you. Now I've got somewhere I need to be, but I'll come and find you as soon as I have the info you need."

The kid nodded, "Great see yah later boss!" with that Konohamaru took off with a frowning Naruto staring after him.

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Jiraiya tossed back another cup of saki and tried to pour another one from his current bottle, when no liquid came out he signaled the waitress to bring another full bottle. The waitress did bring him another bottle but hesitated before putting it on the table, "Are you sure you want this? It looks like your already gonna have a pretty bad hangover from what you've already drunk."

Jiraiya glanced at her and gave her a cursory once over before taking the bottle out of her hand and pouring himself another shot, "Trust me sweetheart, I'm not even tipsy yet and I don't intend to stop until I'm good and drunk."

The girl shrugged and turned to walk away before pausing and partially turning back, "Can I ask you something?"

The sanin downed the drink in his hand, "What?"

The girl paused then said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I know I'm attractive; and yet you haven't hit on me once. In fact aside from that one once over, which seemed more of a habit than anything else, you haven't shown the slightest bit of interest. Why?"

Jiraiya quirked an eye at her before going back to his drink, "I'm just really not in the mood."

The waitresses eyes widened in surprise and then she forced a little laugh, "Should I tell all the girls that the next few days are safe bathing days then?"

She meant it as a joke, a way to get the usually highly energetic, if perverted, man to laugh, but instead the sanin answered her seriously, "You might as well I don't intend to go anywhere near an onsen for quite awhile, now if you'll excuse me I'm drinking for a reason so would you kindly get lost." The girls jaw dropped in surprise but she nodded and quickly left, but not without throwing some very confused glances over her shoulder.

The sanin rolled his eyes and poured himself another shot, as he knocked it back he tried not to think about what his sensei had said earlier this morning, or about his own eating guilt.

_FLASHBACK_

Jiraiya walked into his sensei's office with confusion and anger warring inside him. "Jiraiya," his sensei smiled, "I wasn't expecting you, are you here to report on your progress with Naruto?"

The sanin shrugged, "You could say that. I thought you should know that I can't complete the mission, Naruto hates me, doesn't trust me, and does, if fact, blame me for his hellish childhood. I have to admit I was quite surprised to find out just how awful it was. What can you tell me about that sensei."

The Thirds brow furrowed in confusion, "What are you talking about? Naruto's childhood was, perhaps, hard but not unexpected."

"Not unexpected?" Jiraiya said in disbelief, "He was digging through garbages for food."

Sarutobis eyes widened, "What? No he always had what he needed I made sure of that."

"Are you sure, cause that's not what he told me and it's his life.", the sanin said.

The Sandaime frowned, "What did he tell you?"

Jiraiya stood up and started pacing in agitation as he repeated exactly what Naruto had said before continuing, "How can you not know any of this, I trusted you to look out for him."

Hiruzen sighed tiredly, "Oh jiraiya not you to, I have gotten more than enough flak for how I've handled Naruto. Please don't tell me you're going to start tormenting me as well."

"I won't," the sanin said, "if you can give me a good reason why you didn't keep your promise to look after him."

The third slumped back into his chair, "I tried, I did everything I could to look after him. But I have a village to run and I didn't have a lot of time to look after him personally. On top of that, I spent most of the political power I had keeping him alive. If I had shown him too much favor the factions would have deposed me, and after the Kyuubi attack the village needed someone familiar, someone they could trust. Konoha was so unstable back then and I did everything I could for Naruto without tipping the balance."

Jiraiya leaned against the wall with a hand to his face and sighed, "If you were having such a hard time with taking care of him why didn't you ask me to come back?"

"Because I honestly thought he was alright. I trusted my ANBU to tell me if something was wrong, and apparently their definition is different than mine. I didn't think you were needed here, and what you were doing out there was so important. If I had known what Naruto was going through I would have called you back."

The sanin sighed again, "Well while I'm glad to know why, it doesn't change the fact that I can't complete the mission you gave me. That manipulative scumbag Danzo told Naruto I'm his godfather, and now he doesn't trust me. You're gonna have to find someone else."

Hiruzen looked weary, "Is there anything else?" at Jiraiya's head shake the third nodded, "Then thank you for you report, you're dismissed. I need to plan some more."

With a salute Jiraiya walked out.

_END FLASHBACK_

Jiraiya knocked back another shot of saki and collapsed back against his chair. The saki wasn't helping, he still felt his guilt churning at his gut. Now looking back he could think of a dozen ways he could've found out about what Naruto was going through, or ways that he could have helped. He felt ill when he thought of just how badly he'd failed to keep his promise to Minato.

He heard a child shout outside the restaurant a glanced up to make sure it wasn't a child in danger. He straitened a bit when he realized the child who had shouted was leading Naruto into an ally off the main road. Jiraiya sat there in indecision for a moment before getting up and putting more than enough money on his table to cover the tip and the bill then he took off after Naruto. He probably wouldn't be able to complete his mission, but maybe he could at least start making amends.

By the time he caught up to the two kids the younger one was walking away from Naruto, he waited until the little brat was gone before dropping down behind his godson. The blond quickly turned while dropping into a defensive position, but when he recognized Jiraiya he straightened and quirked an eyebrow, "You know sneaking up on someone isn't the best way to inspire trust."

The sanin cracked a small smile, "I'll try to remember that in the future."

"Why are you here?" The blond asked in a quiet voice.

Jiraiya shuffled uncomfortably, "Well... I uh wanted to apologize. I should have been there for you when you were a kid. I could try to explain away why I wasn't there by saying that I left you in the care of someone I trusted and that I honestly had no idea what you were going through, but that's no excuse. I'm a spy master it would've been easy to have one of my Konoha contacts check up on you from time to time, and I could've thought to send money. The truth is I was so focused on what I was doing outside the village, and I was so sure that you were being well taken care of; that it never occurred to me to take an interest in your life."

Naruto stared searchingly at him, "Not that I don't appreciate the apology, but what do you want me to do about it?"

The sanin hesitated then said, "I just wanted to ask you to give me a second chance. I know I screwed up royally, but I'd like to try and make things right."

The blond frowned, "You do know that I'm not going to just up and trust you because you apologized right?"

Jiraiya nodded, "I know but that's not what I'm asking for. I'm asking you for the chance to prove that I can be trusted now."

Naruto leaned back and crossed his arms, "What do you know about making jutsus?"

"Quite a bit." the sanin said in surprise, "Why?"

The blond shrugged, "I've got this jutsu I've been working on that focuses on elemental manipulation, but I keep getting stuck on this one part. Can you help me?"

Jiraiya grinned, "Absolutely, if you have time now we can head to a training field and get started." Naruto nodded and the two headed off.

.

.

Ebisu-sensei was droning on again, and Konohamaru was starting at him with glazed eyes ignoring everything the man said. Ebisu finally sighed and said, "Honorable grandson you should be listening to me I and I alone can help you achieve your goal of becoming hokage. Do you understand?" The special jonin brought his hand down on the boys shoulder and squeezed it. Konohamaru looked up at him with wide eyes and then vanished in a puff of smoke. "What?" Ebisu breathed, "Konohamaru! Where are you this time!"

On the other side of Konoha Naruto blinked as he received a rush of info from his transformed Konohamaru clone, "Huh, you know Ebisu is actually pretty knowledgeable, well, if you can get past the towering ego and condescension."

The young Sarutobi was practically bouncing, "Oh c'mon boss you sprung me from Ebisu-sensei to tell me who you thought might be interested in my information. So who am I gonna tell?"

The blond shook his head, "You know you really need to learn to be more patient." at Konohamaru's almost pained expression Naruto sighed and pulled out a piece of paper, "Fine, I got in touch with someone for the weapons guild and they're interested. This paper has the time and meeting place on it. You'll want to be on time. If you want I can come along with you, to make sure you don't get in over your head."

Konohamaru shook his head emphatically, "No. I can do this on my own."

Naruto sighed, "All right. Well, then you have everything you need on that piece of paper. Now you'd better get back to Ebisu, he won't be happy if he finds you with me."

The kid grinned, "Thanks boss!" Then the boy took off to find his boring sensei.

That evening Naruto watched from the shadows as Konohamaru gave up what he thought was a village secret to someone he didn't know. And as he watched he wondered if maybe, in spite of the pain this would cause Ko, Ibiki-sensei had been right about the value of this object lesson. He still didn't like manipulating an ally, but he was starting to see how him doing this when it was harmless might stop the kids at the academy from trusting someone whose intentions weren't so pure, like Mizuki.

.

.

Konohamaru grinned as he took a seat in between Moegai and Udon. He ignored the petty squabbles a few of his classmates were having and only half-heartedly payed attention to his two best friends conversation. He was still on a high from what he had done over the weekend. Who would have thought getting a political ally could be so easy, he couldn't believe he'd been lucky enough to get a boss like Naruto. Who else would do so much to help him out.

Iruka-sensei came in and called the class to order, but he was just repeating boring stuff that Ebisu-sensei had already covered so the young Sarutobi tuned him out. It was almost two hours later when something interesting enough to keep Konohamaru's attention happened. The door to the classroom opened and a really scary looking guy in a big black trench coat and a bandanna covering his head walked in. With the creepy guy came two ANBU, the boss, and two kids that Konohamaru vaguely recognized as his boss's teammate's.

Iruka-sensei straightened from casually leaning on his desk, "Would one of you mind telling me why you're interrupting my class?"

The scary guy stepped forward, "Sorry for the interruption but this couldn't wait."

The lone chunin sighed, "Then what is it."

The scary guy pulled out a folded sheaf of papers and handed it to Iruka-sensei, "I have here a warrant for the arrest and interrogation of one Sarutobi Konohamaru on grounds of treason."

The chunin stiffened and the bundle of papers in his hands crinkled from the force of his grip, "Treason? What could an eight-year-old academy student do that could possibly warrant the charge of treason?"

The scary guy sighed tiredly, "We have reason to believe that he told a spy Konoha was planning to invade another hidden village. Because of his entirely ungrounded statement four of the five great nations are gearing up to attack us first. We wouldn't have even known about the threat if the Raikage hadn't sent a message asking if he had heard right. Now Hokage-sama is doing his best to salvage the situation, but it's almost guaranteed that anything he does will just look like a coverup to save face. Whether knowingly or unknowingly your student just cost Konoha a lot of good will and he may have just started another shinobi war."

Konohamaru was frozen in shock and he felt so dizzy, all of the other students were looking at him like he was a monster. He didn't understand this couldn't be right he wasn't a traitor and he would never do something that would hurt his home.

He didn't see the man in the trench coat gesture to the two ANBU to grab him. He didn't realize what the ANBU were up to until one cuffed his hands behind his back and the other slapped a seal on his skin. As soon as the seal made contact Konohamaru could feel the sickening feeling of his chakra vanishing from his system. Some part of his mind was screaming at him to struggle, to get away from there and hind until the world started making sense again, but his body was still frozen in shock. That part of his mind that was screaming at him to fight grew fainter as black spots strobed across his vision. Then, before he realized what was happening, he blacked out.

.

.

Konohamaru came back to consciousness slowly, but as his ability to feel returned he could feel something binding him across the wrists, ankles and chest. When the fog in his brain cleared enough for him to realize what that meant he opened his eyes with a start and frantically started looking around him. He was in a dimly lit room that had three walls of gray concrete and the fourth wall was filled by a large mirror. He stared into the mirror trying to see himself in the gloomy reflection, it only took a few moments of looking for him to see the shadow looming behind his reflexion. He jerked away from the real shadow with a scream.

The shadow flinched back and sighed, "Well we know he's awake." a bored male voice said.

A gentler female voice spoke next, "Sensei is this really necessary? I think we've scared the poor kid enough."

A deep gravelly voice grumbled, "I suppose it is a bit extreme for an eight-year-old, even if the kid is a traitor." Konohamaru had to blink away the spots as the lights in the room came on without warning. When he could see clearly he looked around again and saw the scary guy from the academy and the bosses two teammates.

"Hello Konohamaru," the scary guy said, "I'm Ibiki and these two are Shikamaru and Sakura. If he ever decides to grace us with his presence my third student is named Naruto. Now that introductions are out of the way; why don't you tell me who got you in contact with the spy?"

Konohamaru was confused and opened his mouth to ask what the guy meant when a breathless Naruto barged into the room, "Sorry I'm late sensei. I got here as soon as I got your message."

Ibiki sighed in annoyance and gestured for the blond to join the rest of his team off to one side, "You know how I feel about tardiness and you will be punished later," the Uzumaki paled in fear, "for now though, I have an interrogation to do so don't interrupt again."

"Yes sensei." the boy quietly muttered. Konohamaru felt his nervousness skyrocket, if this guy was mean enough to his students to make the boss nervous, what would he do to him? A small voice in the back of his head whispered reassuringly, that he was the honorable grandson and no Konoha shinobi would dare hurt him unless they wanted to face his jiji's wrath. Another, snider voice pointed out that his jiji was the one who probably signed his arrest and interrogation warrant, so he probably wouldn't be saved.

The jonin snapped Konohamaru out of his panic induced reverie by repeating his last question. The boy still wasn't sure what the man meant by spy but he also didn't want to get into more trouble by not answering so he wracked his brains to try and come up with an answer. As he did a vague memory of what had happened in the academy played through his head. He had been too shocked to remember most of it, nut he thought he remembered something about telling a Konoha secret, which he hadn't of course the closest he'd come was with that weapons... A wave of relief hit him as he realized he had an answer and it might get him out of trouble.

"I never talked to a spy about anything." The young Sarutobi said, "But I did talk to a member of the weapons guild a few days ago and it was Naruto who set up that meeting."

All three genin's eyes widened in shock and two of the genin turned to stare at the third in disbelief. The jonin turned and gave his student a hard look, "Something you want to share Naruto?"

"Wait what?" the blond yelped you can't honestly think I'd betray Konoha? Besides I may not be as smart as Shikamaru but I'm not stupid enough to sign up for a gig like that when my sensei is the head of T&I and could easily out me as a spy." Naruto turned to Konohamaru with a look of betrayal on his face, "I can't believe that after all the help I've given you and the friend I've tried to be to you; you would turn around and stab me in the back by telling lies to try and pin this on me to save yourself. I thought I knew you better Ko."

The academy student stared at his boss in disbelief and felt the sinking feeling of betrayal wash over him. This emotion was swiftly followed by a wave of raw fear, 'What if they believe him over me?' the boy thought, the shouted, "He's lying! Naruto told me to tell that secret and who to tell it to. He said it would help me win political allies when I tried for Hokage!"

The blond looked thoughtfully at the eight-year-old before turning his gaze to his sensei, "Sensei something just occurred to me. No one ever took this seriously because nothing ever came of it, but hasn't Konohamaru been attacking the Third for years? What if he was in fact trying to assassinate his grandfather in a bid for power."

The academy students jaw dropped in disbelief. But his bib to defend himself was cut of by a snort from Ibiki, "That seems a bit far fetched Naruto. The kids only eight."

The blond shrugged, "It was just a theory, but Uchiha Itachi was a jonin by eight, and Hatake Kakashi a chunin. I'm not say Ko _is _like those two, but it's possible, his grandfather was kage level by thirteen so it's not like he doesn't have the bloodline for it. And he does manage to easily escape from his jonin tutor."

Ibiki looked thoughtful before shaking his head, "We're getting off topic. Naruto I know you're not involved in this because I taught you how to lie, so I'd know if you were. However, clearly having the three of you here is going to be a distraction. Go wait in the hall while I extract the information."

The three genin nodded and started to file out. Konohamaru watched in disbelief, "Wait you believe him! I'm telling the truth! Naruto told me to do it all. He's the traitor not me! I thought I could trust you boss! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

.

.

The door slammed shut with a clang, cutting off Konohamaru's desperate rant. Naruto collapsed against the hallway wall looking ill, "I feel like a monster." he whispered.

Sakura sadly looked at him then put an arm around his left shoulder in a comforting gesture, "I'm sure every ninja feels that way at some point in their career, probably more than once."

The blond gave a hollow laugh, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

The Haruno glanced up at her friends unhappy face and sighed, "Apparently not."

The three genin stood in silence for a moment before Shikamaru moved to lean on the Uzumaki's right side in a show of support, "This will pass, for you and Konohamaru. In the mean time the third test starts tomorrow. Focus on that and it'll probably make you feel better; or, at least, a different kind bad."

Naruto shook his head in disbelief, "You guys suck at comfort, but thanks for trying."

.

.

Far away from Konoha and her troubles where the mist was almost always visible, Zabuza and Haku stood tense in a troubling situation of their own. Right smack dab in the middle of a circle of trouble in fact, with lots of sharp pointy things aimed at uncomfortable places.

"Hey listen guys," Zabuza said with a nervous laugh, "I know you probably don't trust me, but I'm here with a very lucrativeproposition. One you won't be able to hear if I'm dead. So please just let me talk to your commander and chief, if he wants to kill me, well I'll still fight back but at least all of us will have exhausted all other options first. So waddya say?" When the squad leader on the other side showed that eh might me listening the nuke-nin continued, "I really do think your boss will like what I have to offer." Zabuza tried to give them all a disarming smile, but as he was quite out of practice it came off more as a feral grimace.

The Squad leader sighed, "You four tie them up and blindfold them. I'm sure leader-sama will at least want to get reacquainted with an old friend before killing him."

Haku tensed even more, but Zabuza just sighed and waved for Haku to stand down. They were quickly blindfold with their hands tied in the uncomfortable position of having their palms facing each other behind their backs. Then with out warning both ninja were lifted off their feet and their ankles were tied up too. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." Zabuza grumbled.

The squad leader gave a sardonic smirk that couldn't be seen by his prisoners, "Hey at least we haven't gagged you... yet." With that the two tied up nin were knocked out and hefted onto other peoples shoulders.

"Remove their blindfolds." they heard a woman say as they came to.

Zabuza blinked at the change in light and his jaw dropped in surprise when spotted the person who had given the order, "Mai?"

The woman looked at Zabuza with no small amount of distrust, "What are you doing here Zabuza?"

The nuke-nin tried to gather the thoughts that had been scattered by seeing a woman he thought had died, "I was- That is to say, I'm here to make a deal with the head of the rebels."

Mai's face tightened in annoyance, "That would be me, now _what do you want_?"

"Ah, right," the nuke-nin cleared his throat, "I want for me and my subordinate Haku here to be able to join your rebellion in leadership positions, well me more than him on the leadership part since he refuses to leave my side. But anyway, leadership positions in your rebellion and a clean slate."

Mai gave a derisive laugh, "Is _that _all? Well why not?"

Zabuaza frowned, "Sarcasm really doesn't become you Mai."

The woman leaned back against her desk and crossed her arms, "Perhaps not, but you didn't honestly expect to just come waltzing into camp and have us immediately trust you did you? You're a nuke-nin for a reason after all. Why would we grant you this?"

"Because I've got access to several billion ryou that I am willing to donate to the rebellion in exchange for a chance to stop running and have a leadership position in Kiri when we win." It had been a long time since Zabuza had seen a sight as amusing as the shock on Mai's face.

The woman dazedly sank down until nearly all of her weight was on her desk as she tried to take in what had just been offered, "I hope you realize that I will be mizukage if our side wins?" Zabuza paused for a moment before unhappily nodding. Only then did she continue, "Then I'm willing to give this a try. I'll grant you a pardon and make you one of my advisors, both now and after the war. When you've manged to earn some trust I'll even set you up with a squad to lead. Also, since it seems that boy, Haku did you say his name was? Since it seems Haku is quite attached to you I'll try to keep you together. Is this acceptable?"

Zabuza again nodded and Mai stepped forward and started to cut the former nuke-nins bonds while ordering one of her guards to dot he same for Haku. When Zabuza was free and standing Mai held out a hand for him to shake, "Welcome to the mist rebellion."

The former nuke-nin shook her hand with a smile. It was good to be home.


	27. Unfortunate Truths

A/n Sorry this is so very late. I had massive writers block and honestly I'm still not too happy with some of the scenes, but I think I've kept you all waiting long enough. Also there's another A/n at the end of this chapter. Please read it cause it contains some pretty important info. Well, enjoy. :)

Chapter 27- Unpleasant Truths

Naruto was distracted from the fascinating fight between Gaara and Neji when a fluffy white feather fell close enough to his nose to make him want to sneeze. The blond's mind was warring between the desire to figure out why a feather was falling in the exam stadium and the overwhelming urge he suddenly had to sleep. Naruto was succumbing to the darkness when he felt a chakra laced poke on his forehead. He sleepily blinked open his eyes to see Sakura kneeling above him with a disappointed look on her face. "Sakura? What happened?" The boy yawned.

The pink-haired girl sighed, "Both you and Shika got trapped in a D-ranked genjutsu, congratulations."

The black lump next to Naruto stirred and sat up, revealing itself to be Shikamaru, "Troublesome," the Nara sighed, "I didn't fall for the genjutsu, but I figured if everyone thought I was asleep I wouldn't need to fight."

Sakura clenched her fist in annoyance and even a still waking Naruto looked a bit disbelieving; or it could have just been a yawn.

"I really should hit you for being willing to sleep through an invasion," the girl said, "but we need you awake, speaking of which..." Sakura turned and lightly slapped Naruto as he started to once again doze off, "Snap out of it, Ruto! Why couldn't you have gotten the kitsune talent for genjutsu as well as the shape shifting?"

The blond rubbed his head with a moan, "Oww Sakura, it's not my fault I have too much chakra to disrupt it, not to mention a certain seal I have that needs a steady stream of chakra to keep going."

The Haruno looked less than impressed, "We really need to work on your genjutsu skills."

Naruto opened his mouth to object when Shikamaru cut in, "We can talk about Naruto's ability or inability with genjutsu later, for now we need to focus on the invasion."

Sakura quirked a brow, "_Now_ you want to do something about the invasion?"

The black-haired boy sighed, "I'm awake now so I don't really have a choice. So, what happened while we were asleep Sakura?"

"Weelll," the Haruno paused in thought, "right before the genjutsu fell Neji managed to land a really good hit on Gaara, good enough to make him cough up blood. Gaara looked mad and like he was trying to go into a demon state, but he couldn't focus through his choking. That's when the genjutsu started, and lots of things happened at once. An explosion covered the Kage box, Gaara's teammates took him away and enemy ninja who were disguised as civilians started attacking."

The Nara nodded, "How are Hokage-sama's counter invasion plans going?"

Sakura shrugged, "All I know about the village evacuation is that people were being quietly evacuated as early as this morning. As for here in the stands, there's a much higher ratio of allied shinobi to civilians thanks to Sandaime-sama's idea of giving all the best chunin and jonin free tickets to this exam."

Shikamaru closed his eyes in thought, "So things here at the stadium are taken care of. Then we should head into the village and-"

"Actually Shika," Naruto butted in, "I don't think every thing's all good here. At the very least we've got an angry jinchuuriki on the loose that will probably transform as soon as it can, a big purple box on the roof beside the Kage box which, judging from the fact that the third has yet to make an appearance down here, probably has the Hokage trapped inside. And there's an ANBU with a really weird mask who just watched another Konoha ninja take a killing blow without even trying to stop it. That same ANBU is now moving away from this battle. So, before we head into the village perhaps we should focus on one of those three things."

The black haired boy gave a reluctant nod, "Fine, if the Third really is trapped in that box I don't think there's a lot we'll be able to do, but we can do something about the other two. You two go after Gaara and keep him from transforming and I'll tail the ANBU."

"Wait why am I one of the ones going after Gaara?" the blond asked.

It was Sakura who answered, "Because you'll have the best chance of beating him if he does go demonic."

Naruto made a sound of dissent, " True, but Shika has the best chance of keeping Gaara from getting that far since he's the best out of the three of us with sealing and I'm sure he's got his bow sealed away somewhere on him. Besides I'm the best tailer out of the three of us and if that guy is an ANBU or as good as one, I'm probably the best one to tail him."

The Nara gave a half-smile, "You know Naruto, if you keep out logic-ing me I'm going to start questioning my intelligence. You're right though, Sakura and I will go after Gaara while you go after the ANBU."

The blond quickly found the ANBU but hesitated before taking off after him, and then turned back to hes two teammates, "I know this really isn't the time but, if you can give Gaara a chance- I know he's messed up but that probably has as much to do with his upbringing as anything. I probably would have been that way too if it weren't for you guys."

Sakura put a comforting hand on her blond teammates shoulder, "We'll do the best we can Naruto, but we can't promise anything. Gaara is the enemy."

"I know he is now," the Uzumaki said, "but think of the kind of ally he _could _be; if we showed him even a little kindness." Naruto ran out of time when the suspicious ANBU started to move out of sight. He quickly turned back to his friends, "Just... think about it while you track him." then the blond was gone, pursuing his own mission.

The other two members looked after their retreating friend in thoughtful silence... a silence that was broken by Shikamaru's sigh, "We're going to help Gaara aren't we?"

The Haruno nodded, "If we have any compassion for our teammates unique situation, then yes.'

"Great," the Nara grumbled, "we'd better find Gaara then, and hey, after we find him one of us gets to brush up on our therapy skills."

Sakura snorted, "Don't you mean figure out how to use our knowledge to twist someones mind in a good way instead of a bad way? Cause I know that I've certainly never done any therapy, that was always Ruto's job."

.

.

It didn't take Shikamaru and Sakura long to find Gaara, although the Haruno wished it had taken them just a bit more time. The pink-haired girl grunted as she took a Suna shuriken to the gut, "Shikamaru! Could you hurry up with those seals!"

The Nara grumbled, "I'm going as fast as I can but this isn't like throwing a kunai. Seals take exact calculations and accurate writing."

"I know!" the Haruno snapped, "But you're not the one holding off a half-mad jinchuuriki!"

The shadow user paused and looked up, "He's only half-mad? Good. Our job will be easier."

Sakura huffed then yelped as a tail made of sand barely missed whacking her upside the head, "I misspoke, he's totally nuts, but he is half-_transformed. _So hurry before your seals become useless!"

With an annoyed grunt Shikamaru finished off the last seal and started wrapping the papers around arrows, "I'm done. Just keep him busy a bit longer while I immobilize him."

The Haruno growled but kept to her duty while the Nara let off shot after shot of the arrows with seals attached. He let off a total of six arrows in a circle around Gaara, and after firing off the last arrow he quickly went through ten hand signs while clutching a seventh seal between his hands. He pushed his chakra into the seventh seal and felt as his chakra was pulled out of that seal and into the others until all seven seals had the same amount, "Move!" he shouted to Sakura.

The pink-haired girl immediately leapt up into the trees, Gaara tried to follow her but found he couldn't move. He roared in anger when his efforts to free himself failed and pulled out more of the one-tail's chakra. Before he could pull out enough to break free though, Shikamaru rushed forward and slapped another, different seal on the jinchuuriki's forehead.

The sand instantly started to fall away from the redhead and he could feel Shukaku's chakra retreating.

"That ought to hold you well enough." the shadow user yawned.

Sakura dropped down from the tree while looking at her watch, "It took you about 15 minuets to make those seals. Wow Shika! I think that's your fastest time yet."

The Nara gave her a glare, "_Now _you say that."

The Haruno shrugged, "What? Did you expect me to applaud your speed while avoiding decapi- yikes!" Sakura ducked out of the way as a large wind scythe cut through the air where her head had just been. She looked in the direction the weapon had come from and saw Temari with her fan fully open and Kankuro standing behind her with Crow ready to deploy.

"We won't let you take Gaara!" the Suna girl said firmly.

Shikamaru groaned, "I can understand your desire to not get in the way of a jinchuuriki, but your timing borders on cruel."

Sakura ignored her teammate's complaints as she took out a kunai at prepared for another fight, "How do you want to play this Shika?"

"You distract them, I'll handle Gaara." The Nara promptly replied.

The Haruno's knuckles whitened around her kunai from the force of her grip, "No way am I playing distractor again."

"Of course you are, it's the logical choice." the shadow user said.

"Oh really?" the pink-haired girl asked in disbelief, "Give me one good reason why."

Shikamaru shrugged, "My way of approaching victims is more likely to work on Gaara. Especially for this unique usage."

"I don't know," Sakura said, "Naruto usually beats the crap out of them to get them to listen. That's more my style."

"Yes, but Naruto beats them up in an 'I'm your friend and I'm trying to knock some sense into you' kind of way. You, on the other hand, give off the feeling of, 'I love inflicting pain on others and the only thing keeping me from going all out is that I need you somewhat sane.' Outwardly similar. Inwardly, not so much," the Nara responded.

The pink-haired girl stared at her teammate for a moment then deflated with a sigh, "Fine, but I can't hold off two skilled opponents for very long, especially not after dodging Gaara for so long, so hurry." after saying her piece the Haruno was quick to lead the two Suna siblings away.

The shadow user turned back to Gaara with a long suffering sigh, "Hurry up she says. That girl wouldn't know how to slow down if she were stranded on a tropical paradise with endless pina coladas."

.

.

Temari had watched the two Konoha genin fight Gaara with increasing horror. When the lazy boy had managed to reverse her brother's transformation with a small seal she had begun frantically trying to come up with a strategy to beat them. So when the girl with the ridiculous colored hair had tried to lead them away she'd happily gone along behind her. After all, it would be easier to defeat them separately. She only hoped her baby brother could hold on that long.

They had only been fighting for a few minuets when Temari got tired of the silence and decided to satisfy her curiosity and if she were lucky, get some useful information. "What did you and your teammate mean when you were arguing about styles back there?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked as she dodged out of the way of some poison tipped senbon from Kankuro's puppet.

"You know," the Suna girl said, "when you were arguing over who should be the distraction."

The Haruno froze in surprise and almost got a kunai in her head for her distraction, "You heard that?" at the Suna siblings' nods she blushed, "Oops." The pink-haired girl took a lot of her focus off the battle as she debated whether or not she should answer her enemies' question. On the one hand just the thought of giving any potentially useful information to the enemy made her gut twist unpleasantly. But, if the two Suna shinobi had overheard her and Shika's argument than she was in much less control then she felt comfortable with. Answering Temari's question might just help Sakura get some of the control that was the life blood of her profession.

The Suna girl noticed the moment her enemy stopped focusing on dodging and was tempted to use this chance to finish the Haruno off, after all Gaara was still in the clutches of this girl's teammate and the sooner they finished her off the sooner they could go and rescue their little brother. She really did want to know the answer to the question, more information was always a good thing, but in the end she decided her brother was more important and she moved to do a finishing blow. Sakura returned attention to the fight and spoke before Temari could finish her movement, "Well, I suppose it wouldn't matter too much if I told you. We were talking about our interrogation styles. My style is to get the vic-ahem _person _so panicked that they have no idea what they're babbling. Shika's is to get them so confused they could be telling every state secret they knew, all while being absolutely sure they were helping their country."

Kankuro snorted, "That won't work on Gaara, he's already confus—Ow! Temari! Why'd you hit me? I was only telling the truth."

The blond girl shot Kankuro a silencing glare before turning back to Sakura, "Even if your friend was the most skilled interrogator of your village it wouldn't do you much good. My little brother doesn't know anything." the Suna girl punctuated this statement by sending a powerful gust of wind to speed up the poisoned kunai her brother had just sent toward the Konoha kunoichi.

"We're not trying to get information out of him!" the Haruno shouted indignantly as she dodged the set of kunai and sent a brace of her own at her two enemies, "We're trying to help him get his head on straight."

Temari, who was about to unleash a wind scythe at the pink-haired girl, stilled in surprised confusion, "Wait, you're trying to help him?" At Sakura's nod she asked in disbelief, "Why?"

The Konoha kunoichi shrugged, "Our teammate asked us to."

Kankuro blinked, "That's it?"

The pink-haired girl nodded again and Temari broke in, "Wait wait, why would your teammate want to help him?"

The Haruno gave them both a searching look then said, "Naruto's got this way of looking someone in the eye and seeing all they are reflected back. Of course it's not perfect, some people are just too good at lying to be that easily read." As Sakura said this she couldn't help but think of the confusion her blond teammate was going through. She frowned and silently prayed that he hadn't met one of these deceivers, and that if he had… well, that he'd somehow be able to see through their lies.

Her two listeners politely brought her attention back to them with a couple lethal attacks, "You were saying…" Kankuro snarled.

The Konoha kunoichi narrowed her eyes at them, but continued anyway, "Right, so Naruto's ability isn't flawless, but for a lot of people he just…" she trailed off not really knowing how to say what she wanted to and in the end she just gave a helpless shrug, "sees. That's what makes Naruto the best interrogator on our team, but it's also what makes him the best friend. He finds all a person's hurts in their eyes and then he befriends them and heals them until eventually, they're not so twisted up inside." Sakura had let her attention wander from the two enemy nin in front of her but now she pulled her attention back to herself with a snap, "Anyway, Ruto saw how much Gaara was hurting and it bothered him. He couldn't, no, he _won't _ let go until he has helped your brother heal, or until we have."

Temari snorted, "Right, and I'm the lost princess of Snow. This is just another delaying tactic isn't it?"

Sakura looked deeply offended, "Of course not! Why do you think I'm lying about helping your brother?"

"Uh maybe because it's too good to be true?" the Suna girl replied, "Besides, no one would care that much about an enemy, especially a crazy one, unless they were as crazy as Gaara."

"But is Gaara really crazy?" the Haruno asked, "Naruto doesn't think he is. Not really anyway. My friend thinks Gaara is broken and lonely and that he doesn't know who to turn to. He thinks that's making Gaara act in a horrifying way because he just doesn't know another way to make the pain go away. It _kills _Naruto to see someone so broken, because he doesn't see ninja or enemies first, he sees people. Which, by the way, is something our sensei is constantly trying to beat out of him. When he looked at Gaara he didn't see a crazy enemy jinchuuriki, he saw _Gaara_."

The two Suna genin's eyes had widened in surprise when Sakura had called their brother a jinchuuriki, but Kankuro quickly got over his shock and raised his hand to send his puppet on another attack run when Temari put her hand over his to stop him. Then she looked at Sakura and said, "I want to see what you're doing to my little brother. If you're telling the truth, then we won't stop you. If you're not, we won't just leave you to be picked up by allies like we were planning to. Got it?"

The pink-haired girl smiled at the concession and, as she couldn't think of anything suspicious about it she nodded and told them she'd meet them there and vanished. The Suna siblings took off after Sakura with Kankuro whining loudly about how naïve his sister was, all while looking at the message Temari was signing out.

.

.

Naruto sat in the shadows in the form of a mouse but he was _so _tempted to break that form and demand answers as he stared in disbelief at the scene in front of him. It couldn't be true, this had to be some kind of trick by the false ANBU he was stalking to throw him off the trail, or maybe a genjutsu. But this absolutely couldn't be _real. _"I trust that all your little soldiers are down here as we agreed, Danzo?" Naruto stiffened when he heard that cultured voice. Why would Band-aid be talking to that spy? The temptation to release his henge and demand answers got stronger.

"Yes, yes of course Kabuto. I've held up my agreement on every other issue why would I fail to do so on this one?" Danzo snapped impatiently.

The spy sighed as he took off his stolen ANBU mask, "Yes, please, disregard the fact that I am wearing a mask to hide my identity and say my name as loudly as possible." the silver-haired man turned toward the small army of silent shinobi who Naruto realized with a chill were dressed identically to the two ANBU who had tried to kill Gaara, the blond was pulled out of his very disturbing thoughts when Kabuto continued, "I merely asked because I thought your army of emotionless soldiers would be larger. You always make it sound like you have hundreds."

"Their numbers may be small, but with their emotions gone they are worth ten normal shinobi." Danzo defended.

The spy snorted, "Normal shinobi, that could almost be considered an oxymoron."

"Perhaps," the cripple replied, "but the fact remains that with those pesky emotions trained out of them they are far more effective. They aren't held back by a conscience, nor will their emotions ever cause them to not obey an order. These men are my arms and strength. I give them their orders with no doubt about completion or betrayal. Tell me, does your charismatic Orochimaru gain the same allegiance from his men?"

'What?' Naruto thought, 'I know Band-aid said he had an organization called Root but what does he mean by emotionless and his arms?' the blond again looked at their masks, 'I've never seen a normal ANBU wear masks like those but everyone down here is wearing them, but that means...'

Naruto was again pulled out of his thoughts by the cultured voice of Kabuto, "My master does well enough at keeping the loyalty of those who follow. In any case, I'm glad to hear you're not trying to double cross Orochimaru-sama. After all it would be a shame if you lost your coveted Hokage seat because of betrayal. Although I suppose you know all about that, _council member _Danzo."

The cripple sniffed in disdain, "If you are referring to the security plans I acquired, and then passed on to you through my position as a councilman... Well, then you are sadly mistaken. Everything I do is for the good of Konoha and that old bat Sarutobi is no longer strong enough to make the tough calls."

"Proven no doubt by the fact that you're still alive." Kabuto stated, "If the Hokage was a true leader he would have had you killed off years ago, before you could gain so much power."

Naruto couldn't take this anymore. The masks and what they probably mean are bad enough, but emotionless armies and plots for a coup... it's too much. Band-aid isn't like this. He isn't. But then why are his instincts silent? Every other time he's been around Band-aid his instincts wouldn't stop shouting, but now... He needed to talk to someone about this. He was too close he needed an outside opinion. Shika and Sakura would help him. Of that he was sure. Without another thought he ran out of the underground root HQ. Behind him he vaguely heard Kabuto ask, "What was that noise?"

"My you're skittish aren't you?" Danzo replied, "It was just a mouse. As for Hiruzen killing me off, well why would he kill off a friend?..."

The blond didn't hear the rest of Band-aid's rebuttal, now that the first part had really penetrated he just ran blindly through the shadowed corridors until he found the entrance Kabuto had used. His eyes teared at the abrupt change from shadow to sunlight but he didn't stop. He kept running until he was far enough away from the root underground to change back into his human self. Then he leaned against the wall panting, running that far as a mouse was tiring.As soon as he had caught his breath though he took off in the direction of the chunin exam stadium. Gaara had run into the woods on the opposite side of the stadium so that would be the best place to start looking for his two teammates.

Naruto headed toward the stadium, but it didn't take long for his thoughts to wander back to the information he'd just acquired He hoped Shika and Sakura would have some idea of what to do, cause right now he didn't even know what he should be feeling. He was yanked out of his thoughts by a panicked voice shouting, "Owl go get Jiraiya-sama! Now!" Naruto looked to where the shout had come from and saw the ANBU captain of the Hokage's bodyguard tensely watching what was going on inside the purple box he had briefly noticed earlier. The blond looked from the tense ANBU captain to Owl, who was hurriedly leaving the stadium, with confusion.

Those two were both part of Hokage-sama's personal guard, so if the Third was trapped inside, why weren't they with him? He knew he should continue on his path and let the ANBU handle this; after all, he was only a genin so there was very little chance he'd be able to help alleviate whatever had those body guards so panicked. But he was curious, and it would be so very nice to have a distraction from his newly gained knowledge. So he gave into his curiosity. With a quick look around to make sure no one was looking the Uzumaki brought his hands together into the ram sign and, for the first time in months, took on the appearance of Kiroi.

As soon as he felt the transformation take root he took off to see what he could discover. In a very short amount of time he landed beside the ANBU captain who he could now see was Tiger. Naruto smiled... this task had just got easier. Tiger was friend after all, "Tiger what's going on?" the deep voice of Kiroi asked.

Tiger gave the transformed boy an incredulous glance, "Are you blind Kiroi? The barrier walls aren't _that _hard to see through."

Kiroi gave his friend a glare, "No, I can clearly see that Hokage-sama is trapped inside the barrier with Orochimaru and what appears to be some sort of clones of the Shodai and Nidaime. What I can't see is why you're so panicked. If anyone could beat the those three it would be the Third. After all, who else would have a better understanding of their fighting styles?"

"_If _those were just clones of the first two Hokages I wouldn't be so nervous." the ANBU captain stated, "But they're not just clones. That snake Orochimaru somehow found a way to resurrect them and make them so that they can't be killed. Hokage-sama may have forgotten more about jutsu than any of us have ever learned but I doubt even he knows how to kill the unkillable."

"Ah," the blond man replied, "the panic makes more sense now, but if circumstances are so bad why aren't you trying to help?"

Tiger's shoulders slumped in sadness as they pointed to a burnt corpse lying just out of reach of the barrier wall, "We already tried. That wall is made of some kind of fire but our water doesn't affect it at all."

Kiroi paled and looked faintly sick, "Who was that?"

"Badger." the ANBU captain said sadly.

Naruto felt a wave of anger pass through him. Badger had been one of the kinder ANBU that checked up on him when he was young. Badger had even taken him out for ramen a couple times. Now he wasn't even recognizable. He looked up and through the barrier to glare in rage at Orochimaru, and his rage could be heard in his voice when he asked Tiger, "What are you doing to try and get though the barrier?"

"We've tried everything we can think of," Tiger said, "we've even tried a few of the seals we know. Nothings worked. That's why I sent Owl out to find Jiraiya-sama, he might be the only shot we have at breaking this seal down."

Kiroi's eyebrows scrunched together in thought, "What if instead of breaking it down, you just went through it with a teleportation jutsu or something?"

The ANBU captain let out a strained laugh, "We'd have better luck breaking the barrier down with our bare hands. The only true teleportation jutsu I've ever even heard about was the Hirashin and even if that jutsu wasn't lost, I still don't think we'd be able to get through. The seal needed for the Hirashin would have fried before it got to the other side."

Kiroi frowned at that information, but Naruto still wasn't convinced. Haku had teleported using his ice mirrors. He knew that for a fact because he'd been so surprised that the mist nin _could _teleport that he'd asked about it. Haku had told him that while he could teleport using his mirrors it took a lot of chakra so he usually just shushined between them as a way to intimidate the enemy. Kiroi's frown slowly morphed into a sly grin as he thought of a kunai his friends had had framed for his sake. If Haku could teleport, then so could he. Kiroi looked over at Tiger with his grin still firmly in place, "I think I can scrounge something up. I'll be back soon." With that Kiroi vanished in a shushin. Leaving a confused ANBU captain behind him, scrounge what up?

In a burst of wind Kiroi reappeared in Naruto's apartment, and the blond let the transformation fall as he went to where the framed kunai rested on his wall. He took the kunai out of its casing and looked at the dried blood on the blade with disgust. Getting the DNA sample into his blood stream was always the most unpleasant part of his secondary transformation. If wet blood was nasty, he really wasn't looking forward to trying this dried blood. Still, Orochimaru had invaded Konoha and killed a precious person. With this transformation he might be able to do his part in bringing that snake down. So, with a revolted look on his face he licked the kunai and channeled his chakra. As soon as Naruto felt the transformation take place he gagged and hurried over to his candy stash.

"Eww," the blond said with a shudder, "I will never get used to that." With the awful taste out of his mouth he reached out his hand and focused on taking the water from the air and turning it to ice in his palm. He grinned when a small flat sheet of ice appeared in his hand, "Sweet. Still I'm glad I got Haku's chakra control and muscle memory with this transformation or I'd never be able to pull off this crazy stunt."

Now at least semi-confident that he could perform the transporting jutsu, Naruto headed to a mirror and, for the first time in his life, put on a normal transformation in the image of Kiroi. When he was satisfied with everything he had done he shushined back to the stadium and immediately sought out the ANBU captain, "By the fact that the barrier's still up I take it that Jiraiya-sama hasn't arrived yet?" Tiger just shook his head, "Well then," Kiroi continued, "It's a good thing I have a way to teleport you into that barrier."

The ANBU 's head whipped toward him in shock, "You have what!"

Kiroi smirked, "I'd love to take this chance to bask in having such an amazing ability, but there really isn't time right now. If you want particulars you can ask later, but for now..." the blond man went to stand right in front of the barrier with his hands stretched out to just a few inches away from the burning wall then he closed his eyes and pictured how he wanted his chakra-made ice to form.

Tiger watched in amazement as a sheet of ice appeared in front of his friend's hands. He was even more astounded when he saw a sheet of ice appear _inside_ the barrier. His attention was pulled away from the two sheets of ice by the strained voice of his friend, "I really can't keep this jutsu up for long so you and any other ninja who are going to jump in should do so now."

The ANBU captain called the last member of his team that was there and two jonin to come with him into the purple box. They jumped through the ice one after another and immediately went to the aid of their Kage. After the last ninja went through Kiroi was preparing to end his jutsu when a familiar voice called for him to wait. The blond man looked over his shoulder to see Jiraiya and Owl running toward him at full speed. Kiroi groaned in distress as he fought to keep the jutsu up for just a few moments more. "It's times like this that I really miss a large chakra supply." he muttered to himself as he felt his chakra stores start to hit the dangerously low mark. But finally the agony was ended as Jiraiya and Owl dove through the portal and made it to the other side. Just in time to as the portal nearly closed on Owl's backside.

Kiroi collapsed to his knees panting heavily as he tried to keep his normal academy transformation from failing, if a Konoha ninja saw him become someone else he didn't think he'd get time to explain. 'Screw perfect chakra control and the Hyoton bloodline.' the blond thought, 'I can't wait to get back to my own massive reserves.'

The man was pulled out of his internal griping by Jiraiya's voice, "Thanks for the help jonin, you may have just saved Hokage-sensei's life." Then Jiraiya charged into the fray.

Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't even thought about what effect his actions would have on the Third. There was a small voice inside him saying that he should regret helping the ninja to get past the barrier, but he quickly shoved that voice away. No matter how he personally felt about the Sandaime he wouldn't wish death on the man. Besides, Konoha needed a Kage and right now the only ninja who really qualified was an arthritic but shrewd seventy year old man. The boy winced at his last thought. Maybe he shouldn't have given up on his dream to be Hokage, because they _really _needed to get someone younger in there.

The blond pulled himself back to the present and the battle that was raging around him. While he was glad that he had stopped and helped out here in the Chunin exam stadium, he needed to join up with his teammates now that his information gathering mission was done. With that thought in mind he headed over the stadium wall that would take him into the forest and as he ran he let both of the transformations that he was holding go. Naruto gave a sigh of relief when he became himself again. It felt so good to have chakra to burn.

He skirted the outside wall of the stadium looking for a clue on the direction his team might have gone, and it really didn't take as long as he thought it would to find it. Bless Shika and his brilliant mind. Only he would have thought to take the time to leave a subtle trail for Naruto to follow. Without wasting time Naruto took off following the hidden trail. He hadn't been following it for more than a few minutes when the overwhelming power of a bijuu washed over him.

He looked up and saw a giant raccoon made of sand rising above the trees,"Crap." he whispered and pushed himself to run faster. He hoped his friends were okay. The blond kept his eyes trained on the demon in front of him as it roared and looked like it was repeatedly trying to stomp something that was on the ground. That was probably a good sign at least. It wouldn't be trying to stomp on something that wasn't there, he hoped. In less than a minute Naruto caught sight of his teammates as they frantically dodged the giant sand made paws, "What happened!" the Uzumaki asked.

Shikamaru grunted in pain as shrapnel from a splintered tree hit him in the back, "Ask little miss trust a lot over there."

"Hey!" Sakura shouted, "This isn't my fault!"

"Oh isn't it?" Shikamaru growled, "As I recall we agreed that you would keep the two Suna shinobi away while I worked on Gaara, instead within five minutes you let them come back here and get close enough to release some sort of paralysis seals."

The Haruno opened her mouth to defend herself but it took a moment for her to think one up, "Well how was I supposed to know Temari would be crazy enough to free a ticked off jinchuuriki while within attack range?"

The Nara growled in annoyance, "_You're _the one who said she loved her brother. Love can make people do really crazy and stupid things. Kinda like that time you almost got killed by that nuke-nin because you thought you _loved _him."

Sakura let out an indignant squeak, "You said you would never mention that again! Besides I'm thirteen, of course I make mistakes."

"I just wish the mistakes you made were smaller." Shikamaru sniped.

"Enough!" Naruto shouted as he yanked his friends out of the way of another attack and sent out three clones disguised as them to keep Gaara busy, "This isn't helping and it doesn't change the fact that we've got to bring Gaara down."

"But how?" the Haruno asked, "Right now he's as tall as the Hokage monument, and as big as it too. None of our jutsus are strong enough to even make a dent in that thing."

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Well, you were gonna send me after Gaara because I'd have the best chance of taking him down if he went bijuu on us. I guess I'll still get to do that."

"That still begs the question of how you're going to stop him." Shikamaru stated.

The blond pointed up at the head of the giant raccoon, "Look, Gaara's still vulnerable. He's just sticking out of Shukaku's forehead unconscious. Now from what I've read about Jinrikisha I'm betting that the only reason Shukaku's out is because Gaara's given over control by knocking himself out. If I wake him up the problem should disappear."

Sakura grinned, "Wow Naruto that's a surprisingly good plan."

"But there's one small problem with it. Gaara is currently over a hundred feet in the air. How are you going to get to him?" Shikamaru asked.

The Uzumaki smirked, "You're not the only one who's been getting help from Jiraiya, Shika. Now my Sakura clone just got squished so I think it's time to get to it. Do you still have any of the bijuu suppressing seals Ero-sennin taught you how to make?"

The Nara nodded, "Yeah three."

"Give me two of them and then you two go and see if you can't find the other two Suna genin." Naruto said. The other two members of Team Psych nodded and Shikamaru handed over the seals and the blond gripped them tightly in his right hand as he watched his two teammates vanish.

Naruto looked up at the tiny red speck in Shukaku's forehead as he brought his hands together and focused his elemental chakra. Then with a running leap the blond jumped off the branch and landed on nothing. He moved quickly, jumping from invisible spot to invisible spot always moving higher.

Sakura glanced back to see how Naruto was doing then froze in shock and did a double take, "Shika look!"

Shikamaru looked to where Sakura was pointing and his eyes widened, "If we get out of this alive. I am so making him teach me that."

Naruto landed on the head of sand with more force than he meant to and smoothly dropped into a forward roll to avoid injury. Almost as soon as he landed the sand beneath him moved to stop him. The blond dodged and jumped but he lost his balance when his one of his feet was caught, soon his hands and other foot followed. He struggled to try and get out of the bonds but they wouldn't budge, and the sand kept creeping higher. The tiny particles managed to encase all but his torso and head before he stopped struggling. He let himself collapse slightly forward as he panted in exhaustion., the sand kept growing. He closed his eyes and tried to think like Shikamaru. What would he do? Naruto went over every technique he knew trying to think of one that might work.

The sand was up to his neck when his eyes snapped open and he started to gather his elemental chakra into his left hand, "Please let this work." he prayed and then released his chakra. The sand blew away from his hand and Naruto willed the wind chakra to wrap around his left hand like he'd seen Sakura do with those chakra scalpel things. Then cut the sand away from his right arm until it was freed. His right hand shot forward and placed the suppressing seal on Gaara's forehead. The red head immediately woke with a cry of pain and the sand around both of them started to lose its form and fall to the ground like rain.

Naruto grabbed Gaara before he could fall out of his reach and once again willed himself to land on solid air. The blond quickly jumped from air step to air step until he was back down on the ground. Gaara, who up until this point had been frozen from the pain of having his bijuu forced back into its seal, began to struggle. The blond yelped in pain as the redhead managed to elbow him in a kidney, "Why is it that people always beat me up when I try to help them?" he mumbled to himself, then pinched the pressure point that would temporarily paralyze the recipient. Gaara immediately went limp, "Much better. Now we can get to work." With that said the Uzumaki carefully sat a glaring Gaara up against a nearby tree and opened his mouth to say more.

"Finish it," the redhead interrupted.

The blond blinked in surprise, "Finish what now?"

Gaara growled, "Finish me. Prove your existence over my own by destroying me as I would happily destroy you."

"Ah." Naruto said in a manner of disturbed understanding, "Well I would, but... I don't really believe in destroying neutralized enemies."

"W-what?" the redhead asked in confusion.

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Honestly. I'd really rather just ask you all sorts of uncomfortable questions about your past in the sure knowledge that you can't run away and will probably answer them seeing how I just took you down."

"Why?" the Suna jinchuuriki asked.

Naruto grinned, "How else am I going to make you relive your painful past and then come to a life altering decision that will no doubt end up with us being friends. Now, my first question is, why do you think killing people validates your existence- No wait, bad first question. What made you decide to become a killing machine?"

Gaara glared at the blond and made no move to answer his questions. Undaunted, Naruto started talking again, "Don't want to talk? I can respect that. After all I'd be kinda nuts if I expected you to break so easily now wouldn't I? How 'bout we do this instead. I'll try to guess what caused you to end up this way and all you have to do is nod or shake your head. Deal?"

The redhead remained motionless but the Uzumaki persevered, "Right I'll just get to guessing then." Naruto looked steadily into Gaara's eyes as he slowly began, "I think, you were once a normal boy. One who everyone feared, but you didn't understand why. One who was _so _lonely because no one wanted to be near you. Except one person. The person who raised you. I bet you really loved that person didn't you?" The blond saw the stricken look on the other jinchuuriki's face and turned his own eyes away, not being able to face his own pain in the other boys eyes, "That person betrayed you didn't they? And somehow that led to you becoming who you are, but why? Why did their betrayal turn you into a murderer?"

Gaara stared at the blond's averted face and spoke, "It was my uncle, Yashamaru. He was the only one who was willing to be near me, to speak to me. Then one night he tried to kill me. When I asked him why he told me that the Kazekage, my father, had made a mistake in creating me, a mistake he wanted destroyed. My uncle volunteered for that mission. He told me of my mother and how she had hated me and hated my village for creating me; he told me that he too hated me, and then he tried to kill me. Many have tried to take my life since then, but they never see me, not until the very end right before I crush the life out of them and then they _see me _and I relish the fear in their eyes. That fear tells me that I am alive not some unseen mistake. Every death, every scream, told me I was alive."

During the redhead's speech Naruto had unwillingly brought his eyes back to meet Gaara's and the Suna jinchuuriki relished the horror he saw in the other demon host's eyes, "You fear me now. I can predict what you will do next. Kill me. Validate your existence by destroying that which you fear."

The blonds eyes hardened into flint, "No. I'm not gonna kill you, and while I admit that your callousness towards death does disturb me; I can understand where you're coming from. It's hard when no one sees you. When the only attention you get are murderous glares from those who wish you dead, or the empty looks of everyone else pretending you're not even there. You know we're not so different you and I. Although I think I've been luckier. If that's possible for someone in our position."

Gaara looked confused, "What do you mean, 'someone in our position?"

Naruto looked at the redhead with a sad smile on his face, "Jinchuuriki, the unwilling sacrifice." Gaara's eyes widened, "Yeah, I've got one in me too. It's great isn't it? Being forced to sacrifice everything we are for a village that refuses to see anything but the monster that _we _protect them from!"

A spark of fire lit in the redhead's dead eyes as he was reminded of the injustice, Naruto continued, "And that's not enough! It's not enough that we unwillingly give up any chance at a normal life and are ostracized. No! They expect us to become super weapons, murderers and monsters, and when we do exactly as we're told they fear us and try to destroy even though we tried to obey!"

"And then there's the monster," Gaara's graveled voice broke in, "Constantly coaxing and tempting, whispering ideas that horrify you. And that part, the human part, gets weaker and weaker until you can do nothing but give in to the voice."

"But the humans who could help you keep the voice at bay. Who could remind you of what it is to be human push you away until you are the monster they always took you as." Naruto whispered in return.

The redhead looked at the blond with confusion, "How do you know all this? Even if you are a jinchuuriki. I've seen you with friends. You're not alone, so how can you know the desperation of my loneliness?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "I didn't always have friends. I grew up under the indifferent care of the orphanage workers. The only middling taste of affection I got was from the Sandaime Hokage, but he was far too busy to see me often. Still, those tiny tastes were what kept me sane, but there were so many times I almost broke, especially before I got my teammates and found people my own age who accepted me in spite of the monster in my gut. Before Shika, and Sakura though there were times. Times I just wanted to- to destroy. Those were the times that that demonic voice was the loudest."

"You are the lucky one." Gaara said, "You have people who love you."

"So do you." Naruto said and watched as Gaara's eyes widened in disbelief, "I'm not lying. Temari and Kankuro, they love you. Heck, Temari just risked accidentally getting flattened by the Shukaku so that she could free you, because she didn't want to see you tortured. You have people who love, they're just too scared to get close right now because they think you're gonna squish them."

"What of those that hate me?" the redhead asked.

Naruto shrugged, "They don't hate you, they fear you. That fear causes them want to get rid of you so they send assassins after you and you kill them and that makes them fear you more. So they send stronger assassins this time and hope they'll do the job, when they don't and you kill them the people get more afraid... it's a vicious cycle that just gets worse and worse until you die or they give up. Or... maybe with time and patience and_ not _killing those assassins even though they deserve it. Maybe your village will stop fearing you. If you do what you can to help them, with your siblings telling you how to help the villagers, maybe someday they'll be willing to forget their fear to the point where your life might even be a little normal." the blond gave a grin, "Who knows, maybe someday they'll like you so much they'll make you Kazekage."

Gaara quirked an eye brow, "Unlikely."

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Hey anythings-" Naruto cut off as the fight between the two jinchuuriki's teammates was interrupted when it landed right in the middle of their talk. It took a moment for both the redhead and the blond to get over their shock then Naruto drew in a deep breath, "STOP!" he shouted as loud as he could. Everyone froze at the exclamation, "Shika, Sakura, let them go." the Uzumaki turned his attention to the Suna trio, "Leave right now, go back to Suna and we'll let you go."

It was a dumbstruck Kankuro that asked, "W-why would you let us go? We're the enemy."

Naruto looked passed the puppet user straight into Gaara's eye's, "Because I'm ending the cycle."

In the tormented teal eyes the blond saw a spark of understanding, and the redhead bowed his head in respect before he spoke, "You have given me much to think over Uzumaki Naruto, and I shall consider it most carefully." He looked over at his stunned teammates, "Temari, Kankuro, we will return to Suna." With that the one-tailed jinchuuriki walked out of Team Psych's sight followed by his two still confused teammates.

The peaceful moment was broken when Sakura slung an arm around Naruto's shoulders and teased in a showman's voice, "And the Spectacular Uzumaki does it again. Guaranteed to untwist the knots in your head in under five minutes or your money back."

The blond snorted, "What money? I've turned so many heads around and I've still to see a single ryo for any of it."

Shikamaru came on the opposite side of Sakura and slung his arm around Naruto's shoulders as well, "No money perhaps, but you always get something. Like when you convinced that missing nin that he didn't really want to kidnap an innocent young Sakura and use her as ransom to get out of Hi no Kuni alive."

The Haruno choked, "What! I! Shikamaru! You _swore _you would never mention that again!"

The shadow user sent a challenging look towards his friend, "Are you sure you didn't dream it up as some fantasy?"

Sakura snarled, "That's it! Say your prayers you lazy butt cause this is your last day on earth!" Shikamaru wisely chose to run with his angry female teammate hot on his heals.

Naruto watched them go with a fond if incredulous smile, until he remembered Danzo. Then the smile fell from his face and he took off after his teammates, "Hey wait! I have something to tell you!"

.

.

"So let me get this straight," Sakura said slowly, "Danzo's a traitor who made a deal with Orochimaru for Konoha?" at Naruto's nod she shook her head in disbelief, "Wow, and you trusted this guy? You usually have better sense then that. What went wrong?"

The blond sighed, "A lot of things I think, the biggest being..." the Uzumaki trailed off and looked up at his two teammates, "You remember a month ago when I was acting all weird, but I wouldn't tell you why?"

"That's kind of hard to forget, especially since it really jacked up our concern for you." Shikamaru answered, "I mean, we've been worried about you since we got back from the Wave mission, you've been acting really bitter and angry, and have been blowing up over the tiniest things. But after the preliminaries... well, for the first time you were scared." the shadow user looked up at his blond friend with a small smile and halfheartedly joked, "We were starting to consider drawing lots to see which of us would get to tie you down and beat it out of you."

Naruto gave a small snort of amusement at the joke but his mind was focused on the description Shikamaru had given of his behavior following wave, or rather, following his confrontation with the Third. The blond looked up at his friends, "I... didn't realize that my behavior following wave was so obvious. I was really angry and I'm sorry I let it affect how I lived my life, I'm trying to work through that anger and move on."

He paused as Sakura let out a breathed, "Thank goodness." the she continued in a firmer voice, "If you ever need help Naruto we're here for you to talk to."

The blond smiled, "Thank you." he looked away and cleared his throat then continued in a more business like tone, "Anyway, about what happened after the preliminaries," the two other members of team psych straightened and focused intently on what their teammate was going to say, "well it really started in the forest of death. The reason I didn't tell you before is because I thought the ANBU were involved, and you know how dangerous it is to talk about any information you might uncover about one of their black ops missions, which is what I thought this event was."

"And that event would be...?" Sakura lead.

Naruto frowned and looked up into the canopy surrounding them, "I saw two people who I thought were ANBU try to assassinate Gaara. They failed. But it really scared me. I thought the Third had sent some of his elite to try and kill a jinchuuriki that _might _be a threat, keep in mind that this was before his suspicions about the invasion were verified. I thought that the Third was jumping the gun, removing the most dangerous piece just because it was a threat... I thought I might be next."

The blond looked down into his friends wide eyes, "It seems a bit silly as I think of it now, but only a bit. But I thought that the Hokage might be willing to kill a threatening jinchuuriki with more prejudice than he would a normal ninja, and I was afraid that, especially with the way I've been acting lately, if I stepped out of line, he'd kill me, and start over with some other poor kid."

"Naruto that's silly", Sakura said in a sympathetic voice, "Hokage-sama loves you and even if he didn't, you represent far too much effort and money spent for him to risk giving up on you easily."

The Uzumaki nodded, "True, but, he would put me down if I were a threat. I just wish I knew where he was drawing that line; it would let me sleep easier at night."

"Then we'll just have to find out that information." Shikamaru interjected, "We are an information gathering team after all. But I'm still wondering why you chose now to talk to us about this. Clearly those assassins weren't ANBU or you would still be keeping us in the dark. So who are they?"

The blond shrugged, "They're called Root, and I know who their boss is." Naruto looked up at his friends with a look of betrayal on his face, "Danzo. And those fake ANBU in the woods weren't his only soldiers. When I was down in that bunker I saw at least fifty, and who knows how many others he has out on missions or infiltrated into Konoha's ranks. Band-ai-I mean Danzo, did tell me some things about Root, but in light of this new information I'm not sure how much of it I believe anymore. What should I do about this?" the Uzumaki asked as he looked up at his friends.

"We should report this." Sakura immediately replied, "Hokage-sama will know what to do."

Naruto shook his head, "I disagree. If we do decide to tell anyone, and I'm not saying we should, the last person we should tell is the Hokage."

The Haruno glared at the blond in rage, "This isn't the time to be thinking of your hurt feelings Naruto! This is serious, and as genin we can't handle it."

The Uzumaki growled, "This has nothing to do with my personal feelings about the Third. The fact of the matter is that with so many ninja working for Danzo it's highly unlikely that the Sandaime doesn't at least have an idea that something's up. If he could take Danzo down he would have by now."

"Not necessarily." Sakura said, "Maybe he's b-"

"I agree with Naruto." Shikamaru butted in, "I don't think the Third is capable of bringing down Danzo. After all it isn't just his army that you need to worry about, not that that isn't bad enough for its potential to cause a civil war. But he also has a lot of political power among the merchant class and Konoha can't afford to alienate them."

The Haruno stared at the Nara in surprise, "How do you know all that Shika?"

The shadow user shrugged in embarrassment and looked over at Naruto, "Don't take this the wrong way 'Ruto but after you started getting all chummy with Danzo I looked into the files I could access about him... I figured one of us should. Even with my fairly high level of clearance, there wasn't a lot about him that I could get access to. It seems like this guy's whole life is some sort of secret sandwich. I was waiting for the right time to tell you."

"The right time?" Naruto asked, "Why did you have to wait for the right time?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Well you can be pretty stubborn, and you seemed _really _determined to see Danzo as a good guy. I didn't want to tell you and risk you pulling away from me like Iruka-sensei told me you did with him, after all it's not like you have all that many friends left."

The blond stared at his friend in surprise for a moment then smacked his forehead, "I'm an idiot. I'm sorry guys I didn't mean to make it impossible for you to tell me things that were important. I've really been making a big mess of things these past few months haven't I?" at his friends' somewhat guilty nods he hung his head in shame. Before looking imploringly back at them, "Well listen if I'm making an idiot of myself like that again tell _me _not the Third. Also... I'm trying to become more forgiving. So, if you hear me going into a spiteful rant poke me or something so I know to stop and start over from a better place."

Sakura got an evil glint in her eye, "No problem. Heck I might even give you a few ideas on how to go about becoming a more forgiving person, if I can think of any."

Naruto gave a weak laugh, "Right, just don't maim me please. But... ok we know Danzo is a traitor and we also know that the Hokage can't do anything to stop him without major consequences for Konoha. So, what should we do about this?"

There was silence as both the blond boy and pink-haired girl turned to look at Shikamaru, who looked back at them with great discomfort, "Why are you guys looking at me?"

The Haruno gave the Nara a deadpanned look, "You are the team strategist. This is kind of your field of expertise."

"I don't know," the shadow user said, "I think I'm a bit off today. Both of you have managed to come up with better plans on how to manage just about everything we've done during this invasion."

"True." the pink-haired girl preened before looking back at Shikamaru seriously, "But we couldn't have come up with our awesome plans without your lattice-work."

The Nara sighed, "Fine. Here's what I think we should do." he turned to Naruto, "Ruto, since Danzo wants you we have the perfect in to send in a spy and gather more information, and right now that is crucial. At the moment we just don't have enough intel to come up with an acceptable plan to take out Danzo. So you accept his offer to train you, and then use you're position close to his to gather knowledge about his weaknesses. Then we can meet together and go from there."

Sakura nodded, "Sounds like a good plan to me."

"There's one more thing," Shikamaru said, "Before we proceed with this plan I think we should tell Ibiki-sensei." at Naruto's less then enthused face the shadow user continued with more force, "Hear me out on this. Danzo is one of the most powerful people in the village, so strong that right now even the _Hokage _can't touch him. That automatically puts all of this way over our heads. Which I will admit is an advantage in a lot of ways as Danzo won't suspect us. If we mess up and get caught, than it's just three genin that went rogue and got into something they shouldn't have, leaving Hokage-sama untouchable. But, we need to know what the Hokage's plans are for Danzo to make sure we're not stepping on those very important toes and Ibiki-sensei knows more about what in going on inside and out of this village than anyone but the Third. For the tactical information alone it's worth telling him, not to mention the fact that he could help cover for us."

"And if he shuts us down?" Naruto asked.

"Then he'll have a good reason." the Nara stated, "Ibiki-sensei won't let a traitor like Danzo run free and he knows the value of information better than any of us. If this plan is a good thing he'll help us. If it's not, it will be better to know now before we've passed the point of no return."

The blond boy and pink-haired girl looked thoughtful before they both looked at Shikamaru and nodded, "It is a good plan Shika," the Uzumaki said while standing up, "So let's go tell sensei. The sooner we start on this plan the sooner we can destroy Danzo."

Naruto helped Sakura to her feet while Shikamaru languidly got to his own. Than, in the time it took to blink, the three genin were off heading back to Konoha.

.

.

Ibiki didn't know whether to bless the fates for his good fortune or curse them for his lack of it. For there in front of him sat someone who had witnessed an act of treachery from Danzo. Unfortunately that witness was a jinchuuriki which meant almost no one would take his word over Danzo's. On a happier note, his students had found a way to gather that needed information, and Naruto had volunteered to go under cover. The only problem he could see with their plan was their unwillingness to tell the Hokage, and even that he could understand. In spite of their recently rocky relationship, the Third still saw Naruto as a grandson, and there was no way he would risk putting someone who was valuable both personally and politically into such an unsteady situation.

The jonin looked over at Naruto, "Are you sure you want to do this? I know you've done infiltration missions before but this will be different. You'll be going undercover as yourself. You'll be forced to do things you won't agree with and will most likely have cross a few lines from your moral code in order to get close enough to Danzo to get anything of worth. That man is cagey if nothing else, and even if he wants your power he won't trust you with anything if there's even the slightest chance that you're not completely loyal to him. This will probably be one of the hardest missions you'll ever take on simply for the fact that Danzo knows you well enough to manipulate you and now you'll have to not only avoid being manipulated, but you'll need to turn this back on him and manipulate him instead. Are you sure you can do that? Are you sure you even want to?"

The blond drew his eyebrows together in thought before nodding emphatically, "Yes I'm sure. Danzo's a traitor that needs to be put down and, whether I like it or not, he's put me into the perfect position to bring him down." a sly smile slipped onto his face, "I won't want to spit on so generous a gift."

The sadist leaned forward on his elbows and link his hands together over his mouth as he thought. He still didn't feel comfortable with not telling the Hokage, not in the least. But he got the feeling that Naruto would back out if the Third were told, besides talk around the water cooler hinted that Hokage-sama would be stepping down in favor of a younger successor soon and perhaps then he could convince Naruto to expand on the group involved in this, at least to include the Hokage. In the mean time his shinobi instincts were screaming at him to use this plan and he rarely ignored those, then again he also rarely ignored his Kage, but he could see the worth. He felt torn, nut in the end... there was really only one path to take. He just hoped it didn't come back to bite him in an unpleasant place.

The jonin nodded and looked up at Naruto, "I'll help you with this plan on one condition. If you feel your loyalties starting to slide, even a little you will tell us and we will terminate this mission. Agreed?"

The Uzumaki grinned, "Agreed."

Ibiki smirked, "Then here's what I think we should do..."

.

.

Neji, Lee, Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru all stood at attention before their Hokage, with the rest of the competing Konoha genin and the jonin sensei behind them. Sarutobi looked at the five genin in front of him with pride, "Although we are not permitted to have an official promotion ceremony due to the invasion, I though it would be nice to at least have one for the genin that earned this promotion. I am proud of you all. You are the next generation of leaders and teachers in this village, and as I look at you I can see the great ninja you are beginning to become. Today you have taken a step closer to your true potential. Shikamaru, Naruto, Sakura, Neji and Lee, I herby bestow upon you the rank of Chunin. May you wear your new rank well."

The Third sat while one of his assistants passed the chunin flack jackets out to the new chunin. Once this task was done the Sandaime cleared his throat to bring attention back to him, "Now, as new chunin there are several changes that you need to be made aware of. Your sensei will of course be informing you of most of those changes as their final act. But there is one thing that I always make sure to mention. While you are still encouraged to reach out and learn as much as you can, you will no longer follow a path set by Konoha to gain that knowledge. You are now on your own. Do not let this intimidate you, now you have the freedom to study what you want, under who you want to, as long as they are willing to teach you of course. Your education is now entirely under you own control. Usually this change catches newly promoted chunin by surprise, but I always ask just to make sure. Have any of you manged to find someone to apprentice under already? If so step forward so that it may be documented."

Naruto immediately stepped out of line, "I, Uzumaki Naruto, have requested to be apprenticed under Shimura Danzo who has graciously accepted my request. With the permission of the Hokage I would like this apprenticeship to be recognized by Konoha, with all the rights and privileges afforded to an apprentice."

Hiruzen's face took on a carefully blank expression, he had hoped Ibiki would have been able to prevent this as he could not risk so blatant a confrontation with Danzo, "Konoha will accept your request pending the accepting signature of your former sensei."

The blond took another step forward and laid a paper with Ibiki's signature emblazoned across the bottom on the desk in front of the Hokage, "It has already been completed."

Sarutobi shoot a subtle sharp look at Ibiki, but the jonin could only shrug his shoulders in helpless defeat. After letting out a near silent sigh the Third spoke, "Then you will hereby be known as Danzo's apprentice. Kotetsu mark down this change in Naruto's status." the Sandaime looked at the other four genin as Naruto stepped back into the line, "Have any of the rest of you managed to find people to apprentice under yet?"

Shikamaru and Sakura stepped forward, "Sir. I, Nara Shikamaru, and... she, Haruno Sakura would like to request permission to stay in our previous capacity under Ibiki-sensei until we have found people to apprentice under."

"Granted." Hiruzen immediately replied, "And you two?" he asked as Shikamaru and Sakura rejoined the line.

Lee stepped forward, "I, Rock Lee have requested and have been given the honor of being apprenticed under Maito Gai. I now ask if Hokage-sama will allow this."

The Sandaime hid a smirk behind his hands, somehow he wasn't all that surprised by this happening, "I don't see that being a problem now that Tenten has been moved to team seven. Granted." He turned to the last chunin, "What about you Neji? And please dispense with the formalities I think we've all had enough of everyone being referred to in the third person."

Neji allowed himself a blink of befuddlement before stating, "With you permission Hokage-sama I shall be trained as a partial apprentice to Hyuuga Hiashi-sama."

"That is more that acceptable Neji. Kotetsu, make note of what needs to be changed on the files of these five new chunin." He turned back to the five in front of him, "I would like to make it clear that you will all still be on the active duty roster and I will be able to assign you to missions as I see fit. I congratulate you all once again. Dismissed." The Third waited until his office was empty before standing and going to his window to look out over Konoha. Naruto had foolishly fallen into Danzo's trap, but then, perhaps so had he. What kind of Kage could he be if he couldn't stop a _genin_ from joining an enemy?

.

.

Team Psych sat on top of the Hokage monument looking out over the village they all saw with varying levels of fondness. Sakura finished off the root beer in her hand then leaned over the edge of the monument and let the bottle drop from her hands. A few seconds later the three celebrating chunin heard it shatter below. "Pass me an apple beer Ruto."

Naruto smirked and threw one to her while Shikamaru just sighed, "You know, dropping things from the Hokage monument is illegal."

The Haruno shrugged and took a sip of her apple beer, "There's no one below. So it's not like I'm hurting anyone. Besides at least my celebratory prank is just dropping things. Unlike Lee who decided to screw the consequences and take a drink."

Naruto snorted, "You gotta admit though, his will certainly be more remembered. I don't know who was more surprised when he started slurring one liners at Anko. Her or Gai-sensei."

"I don't know I think the funnest part of Lee getting drunk was when he started using the drunken fist and managed to lay out Kakashi-sensei." the Nara said.

All three broke into laughs at that and Sakura said, "Or how Gai-sensei started going on about how now that his beautiful student had managed to beat his eternal rival that surely the cool Kakashi would become 'less cool'." Sakura finished off her drink with a chuckle and let it fall before turning to her two friends, "So, I know Neji is abstaining for the celebratory prank due to the stick up his- well you know. But what are you two going to do."

Shikamaru yawned, "Tonight I'm going to put a cloning seal on Hokage-sama's desk that will cause all the paperwork on his desk to multiply until it fills the room. Of course I do value my life so the seal will be easy to find... but I wish I could see his face when he walks in there in the morning."

The other two chunin smirked and Naruto said, "Brilliant. I put dye in all the ANBU showers that will chemically bond with the proteins in their hair and turn it hot pink. The only way to remove it is by washing their hair with chakra filled soap. They'll figure it out eventually of course but until then, it will be fun to see the toughest nin in the village trying to hide their hair."

Sakura sighed despondently, "Wow, who knew you two had such a mean streak? I don't know weather to be proud of myself for doing something so harmless or ashamed that I couldn't come up with something more epic."

The blond shrugged, "Eh there are worse things, and at least you're not likely to get into too much trouble."

The Nara smirked, "If any of us are caught we won't really deserve our title of chunin."

The Haruno nodded, "True enough. So, have you guys heard-"

The rest of her comment was cut off by the arrival of a pink haired ANBU on the monument. The three chunin tensed in fear that the elite ninja was here for revenge. But he seemed more self conscious about his hair than murderously angry, "Chunin's Haruno and Nara, Hokage-sama requests your presence." Then the ANBU was off in a swirl of leaves.

The three chunin burst out laughing and Sakura said, "Well it looks like your prank was a success Ruto." then with a sigh she got to her feet, "Still, Shika and I had better get going. I guess even with a new rank, invasion or anything else, life moves cheerily onward."

"Unfortunately." Shikamaru agreed as he too got to his feet.

Naruto looked up at them with a smile, "Yeah. I'll see you soon." The other two nodded and then vanished over the side of the mountain. The blond gave a sad smile. Yes. Life moved on, and starting tomorrow his life would move on into a world of shadow games and deceit. He shuddered, just hoping he could manage to hold onto his self.

.

.

Shikamaru and Sakura were let into the Hokage's office and immediately went down to one knee out of respect, "Your will, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked with her head bowed.

"Rise." the Sandaime chuckled, "Just because you two are chunin now doesn't mean I expect you to get so formal. Respect will be sufficient." The two chunin rose and were surprised to see that Jiraiya was there with the Third, leaning up against the window, "Now, I know it's unfair to pull you away from Konoha so shortly after gaining the rank of chunin, but there is a mission that I believe you two will play a very useful part in. Jiraiya."

The sanin nodded and straightened, "You two are going to help me find and convince an old friend of mine to return to the village."

"For what purpose?" a confused Shikamaru asked.

Jiraiya chuckled, "Why, to convince her to become Hokage, of course."

…

_finis_

**A/n I'm putting this in bold because I want you all to read this. You're probably thinking something along the lines of 'that's it?' right now. Well don't worry. This is not it. There is already a Sequel called 'I Spy' in the works and the first chapter should be up soon. I would have kept it all in the same story but it just flows better when I split it in two. In fact this is the only way my muse would let me write it (silly muses). So anyway yes, Team Psych is over but there in a sequel coming soon.**

**Now onto other things. First I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed this story, your reviews were inspiring and often helped me figure out my own head. Also my goal for this story was to reach 500 reviews and thanks to you wonderful reviewers I reached it and more, so thank you. I'd also like to thank all those who Fave'd my story or added it to a community. Those too were very encouraging. **

**Thank you all for sticking around and hopefully I'll see you in the sequel 'I Spy'.**

:) The Anti-Stratigist


	28. I Spy is up!

Chapter one of I Spy is up! I hope you all enjoy it! :)


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